“ Certainly, the SCAF transforms into Mirage but the latter is not about to fly away! » The tone is set. Meeting on February 10 in Saint-Cloud, the Central Social and Economic Committee (CSE) of Dassault Aviation delivered a blunt indictment against the state of the Air Combat System of the future. Around the general management, the representatives CFE-CGC, CFDT, CGT, UNSA and FO denounced a project “ dimensioning for European sovereignty » now undermined by industrial disputes.
At issue: the persistent blockage on the governance of phase 2, which a Franco-German-Spanish agreement was to seal in December. Project manager of pillar n°1, that of the new generation fighter (NGF), Dassault calls for “ a clarification of roles and an organization recognizing its know-how.” But, write the elected officials“German industrialists and unions plant, with each new intervention, an additional nail in the coffin of the SCAF “. The reference clearly targets Airbus Defense & Space and its CEO Michael Schöllhorn, who judges “viable” a two-NGF system, as well as BDLI and IG Metall, now in favor of “ a two-aircraft solution “.
Dassault? “A common good”
For the CSE, “ no one is fooled about the origin of the disagreement: where skills should prevail, it is in reality a question of industrial sharing “. And to accuse the German aeronautical industry and IG Metall of wanting “take the lion’s share”going so far as to commit Berlin to the development of its own combat aircraft. “ Jointly developing two different aircraft means losing sight of the origins of this cooperation », Warn the staff representatives, recalling that the SCAF primarily aimed at European cohesion and the pooling of resources.
Underlying this is the fear of a lasting divide between French and German employees and a demobilization of teams. lack of lasting prospects “. Stung by comments read in the press – “ Dassault Aviation cannot be trusted,” even “we must exclude the French » –, the unions defend a company which they consider to be “ a common good “.
And insist: “ Dassault Aviation has already demonstrated its capabilities to design, produce and put aircraft into flight. The know-how of Dassault Aviation employees no longer needs to be demonstrated! » Behind the battle of words is that of project management and, more broadly, that of European industrial sovereignty.
