Belgium is joining the Future Combat Air System sixth-generation fighter program.
According to Ludivine Dedonder, the defense minister of Belgium, the nation will be the fourth FCAS partner behind Germany, France and Spain by June 2025.
Belgium is also set to sign the FCAS observer status membership agreement in December.
Dedonder confirmed the timeline in a LinkedIn post.
The FCAS program aims to design and build a sixth-generation fighter aircraft that features a suite of interoperable and connected systems. It is similar to the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance initiative and the Global Combat Aircraft Program of the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan.
Once Belgium is fully integrated into the program, more information about its contributions is expected to be revealed. Right now, Germany’s Airbus, France’s Dassault and Spain’s Indra are leading efforts to develop next-generation fighter, remote carriers or adjunct aircraft, and combat cloud.
France, Germany and Spain will select the final NGF design in the first quarter of 2025.
