An official representing workers at European giant Airbus’s defence unit in Germany has called on the nation’s new government to cancel an order for the Lockheed Martin F-35A, amid geopolitical uncertainty caused by the actions of US President Donald Trump.
“I don’t want to see a German politician having to act like a twit in the Oval Office in order to deploy his purchased American fighter jets in a crisis,” says Thomas Pretzl, chairman of the general works council at Airbus Defence & Space.
Speaking during a meeting at the company’s Manching production site near Munich, Pretzl urged Berlin to axe its 35-unit order for the F-35, and to step back from other future procurements of US equipment.
On order to replace part of the German air force’s fleet of Panavia Tornado strike aircraft, the fifth-generation fighters will assume a commitment to NATO to maintain a capability to deliver air-launched nuclear weapons. The role is not available with the Luftwaffe’s Eurofighters.
In addition to its F-35 order, Berlin’s current procurement activities include purchases from the USA of 60 Boeing CH-47F Chinook transport helicopters and eight P-8A maritime patrol aircraft. Deliveries of the rotorcraft are due to begin in October 2027, while a first German navy P-8A was recently flown for the first time in the USA.
The German air force also will receive three Pegasus signals intelligence jets: while based on the Canadian-built Bombardier Global 6000, these are being modified by Bombardier Defense in Wichita, Kansas, in partnership with Germany’s Hensoldt.
Meanwhile, Pretzl says Germany’s new government should “take the lead in military aircraft construction” by making further investments in programmes like the Eurofighter and its next-generation successor.
He notes that “the question of consolidating” Europe’s separate Future Combat Air System (FCAS) and Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) requirements “remains unanswered”.
France, Germany and Spain are advancing the FCAS effort, while Italy and the UK are teamed with Japan on the GCAP venture. The development projects respectively aim to deliver “sixth-generation” fighters and supporting equipment for operational use from 2040 and 2035, respectively.
“Given the current threat situation, this is too late,” Pretzl says of the 2040 date for fielding an FCAS capability.
The general works council at Airbus Defence & Space was among bodies to previously lobby the German government to safeguard the Eurofighter programme by ordering follow-on batches. Berlin has so far this decade signed for 38 additional examples via its Project Quadriga, and last June announced its intention to buy another 20 of the multirole type.
