BERLIN — Germany is quietly building a national system linking combat aircraft, drones, satellites and sensors after killing a joint project with France and Spain to build a sixth-generation fighter jet.

Internal German defense ministry documents seen by POLITICO show Berlin is preparing a €580 million contract for Helsing, the Munich-based defense company, to develop a core software-and-test architecture for the Combat Fighter System Nucleus, or CFSN for short.

In other documents seen by POLITICO, the contract favors Helsing despite the defense ministry’s concerns about locking the development to a single contractor. The ministry also indicates it plans to avoid additional parliamentary scrutiny.

Under the contract, Helsing is supposed to deliver two experimental uncrewed combat aircraft, two ground control stations, a ground segment, operating system software, autonomy software and a government-owned reference architecture that other systems could plug into.

CFSN is a German effort to build its own project on the remnants of the failed Future Combat Air System. When the jet-fighter element of FCAS was scrapped, both France and Germany underlined that the associated combat cloud connecting warplanes with sensors and drones would continue; what’s unclear is if that effort will be multinational or done by individual countries.

The documents show that the ministry is treating CFSN as more than a narrow research project. One paper describes it as a backbone for future networked air warfare, but officials see the project as politically delicate.

One internal note warned of “considerable communication needs.” Among the points flagged is why the contract is needed despite unresolved decisions on the wider future combat-air program and how much cash Germany’s parliament is asked to approve.

A defense ministry spokesperson told POLITICO the ministry does not comment on procurement projects and companies before pending parliamentary consideration. Helsing declined to comment.

The planned Helsing contract would be one of the first major industrial moves to see what can still be salvaged from the wider FCAS concept.

In modern air war, the jet fighter is only part of the system. An increasingly decisive layer is the software that lets crewed fighters, drones, sensors and weapons share information and act together.

That was supposed to be one of the selling points of FCAS, linking the Next Generation Fighter with the combat cloud. However, the aircraft part of the project collapsed due to deep disagreements between French and German contractors.

Complex contract

According to internal ministry assessments of the project seen by POLITICO, Germany says the CFSN architecture should avoid dependence on any one supplier. Yet the first step is to award the contract to a single company.

One procurement note says four industrial options were examined as potential main contractors: Airbus Defence and Space, Helsing, MBDA Germany and Diehl Defence. According to the note, only Helsing provided all the required evidence and answers.

The documents list MBDA Germany as one of Helsing’s subcontractors, alongside its subsidiary Grob Aircraft, sensor producer Hensoldt and electronics and communications specialist Rohde & Schwarz. 

The ministry is also citing a national-security exemption from normal EU procurement rules, arguing that a standard tender would risk Germany’s security interests.

Another procurement note says that the second stage of the contract in 2027 would not need a separate approval by the parliament; under normal rules, the Bundestag’s budget committee has to sign off on all projects worth more than €25 million.

In the past, parliament has strongly objected to the defense ministry’s efforts to minimize its role in approving projects.

The form of Helsing’s contract may also draw parliament’s attention. Instead of buying a finished product at a fixed price, the state will reimburse the company for the costs of experimental work.

The documents acknowledge that cost assumptions are not fully clear before the contract is signed. However, they say the risk should be contained through an overall price ceiling and caps on work packages.

The documents seen by POLITICO suggest Berlin is no longer waiting for a revived multinational FCAS. Instead, Germany is moving ahead with a national air-combat architecture that could shape how future European drones, aircraft and sensors operate together.

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