The battle to build Europe’s next generation fighter jet

The point at which a large warplane programme breaks even, combined with the number of the jets European countries are likely to order, “would suggest that Europe can't afford two competing programmes,” says Justin Bronk, at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). The reason there are two rival programmes is political, he says. Any country wanting to make a warplane will want to keep parts of the work to themselves to retain industrial secrets, he says. “Dassault is notoriously difficult to work with as an international partner,” and the French government backs it up in aggressively pushing for workshare, says Bronk.