Paris Air Show: Europe to build rival to UK's next-generation fighter jet

Spain has joined France and Germany in a project to build a replacement for the Eurofighter Typhoon jet.

The plane, currently titled the New Generation Fighter, will be built by Dassault Aviation and Airbus and could become a rival to the UK's Tempest fighter jet announced last year.

It comes as European nations look to themselves to design and build military hardware in an increasingly uncertain world in which Britain is expecting to leave the EU and the US is questioning the NATO alliance.

The Eurofighter Typhoon, which was also part-built by Airbus and BAE Systems, came about as a multinational collaboration between the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain in the 1980s.

At the Paris Air Show on Monday, the defence ministers of France, Germany and Spain signed an accord launching a trilateral framework of co-operation.

They also sat in front of a mock-up of the jet, with French President Emmanuel Macron applauding behind them.

Dassault Aviation, which currently build's France's Rafale and Mirage jets, will embark on its first military jet joint venture with Airbus Space and Defence, which is based in Germany but has several UK sites.

Airbus has expressed considerable concern about Brexit and said that it may have to pull out of the UK in the event of no deal - much to the concern of many UK space scientists.

France's Safran and Germany's MTU Aero Engines will jointly develop the new European warplane's engine.

The new plane is expected to be operational from 2040, five years after the UK's Ministry of Defence said the Typhoon will be replaced by the Tempest.

Development of the Tempest is being run by BAE Systems, Italy's Leonardo, engine maker Rolls-Royce and missile maker MBDA.

The UK has also started using America's $1.5tn (£1.2tn) F-35B jet - which has the capacity to be operated as a successor to the Harrier - due to its ability to take off vertically.

France explored the possibility of working with Britain on a project to replace the Eurofighter, but in July 2017, Mr Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced plans for the new Future Combat Air System (FCAS), including a fighter jet and a range of associated weapons such as drones.

The development of the Tempest was announced a year later.

Mr Macron told reporters at the air show on Monday: "Competition among Europeans when it weakens us against the Americans, the Chinese, is ridiculous."

Airbus also announced on Monday that it and Dassault had made substantial progress towards developing the FCAS, which includes a system called and "air cloud" to control drones, called "remote carriers".

Eric Trappier, chairman and chief executive officer of Dassault, said: "The progress we have achieved on the FCAS programme in recent months is remarkable. It will shape Europe's most decisive military air combat programme for the decades to come and turn out a strong move in constructing Europe's sovereignty."

The French and German governments say they plan to invest an initial €4bn (£3.6bn) in the combat jet by 2025, with France, the project's leader, contributing €2.5bn (£2.2bn), with the first flight of a prototype expected around 2026.

Last year, then defence secretary Gavin Williamson announced the UK would spend an initial £2bn for research on the Tempest.