Future Combat Air System
| Future Combat Air System Système de Combat Aérien du Futur Zukünftiges Luftkampfsystem Futuro Sistema Aéreo de Combate | |
|---|---|
| Mock-up of the NGF and a remote carrier at the 2019 Paris Air Show | |
| General information | |
| Type | Combat system of systems |
| Manufacturer |
|
| Primary user | French Air and Space Force Spanish Air and Space Force German Air Force |
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| New Generation Fighter | |
|---|---|
| Mock-up of the NGF at the 2019 Paris Air Show | |
| General information | |
| Type | Sixth-generation jet fighter |
| National origin | France, Germany, Spain |
| Status | Project |
The Future Combat Air System (FCAS), (French: Système de Combat Aérien du Futur; SCAF; German: Zukünftiges Luftkampfsystem; Spanish: Futuro Sistema Aéreo de Combate; FSAC) is a European combat system of systems under development by Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Indra Sistemas. The FCAS will consist of a Next-Generation Weapon System (NGWS) as well as other air assets in the future operational battlespace.
The NGWS's components will be remote carrier vehicles (swarming drones) as well as a New Generation Fighter (NGF)—a planned sixth-generation jet fighter—that will possibly supersede France's Rafale and Germany and Spain's Typhoons.
A test flight of a demonstrator is expected around 2027 and entry into service around 2040. According to Airbus, the first test flight of an FCAS fighter jet together with swarming drones, with all vehicles connected to each other via an information technology "combat cloud", is planned for 2028 or 2029.