Debate about the US jet Criticism from ex-Airbus boss: "Nobody needs an F-35"
The debate about the procurement of American F-35 jets continues in Europe, but now also in Canada. Now an ex-boss of Airbus is speaking out - and calling planned purchases "superfluous".
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- After Portugal, Canada now also doubts the purchase of American F-35 fighter jets.
- Prime Minister Carney says his country is too dependent on the USA.
- Former Airbus boss Thomas Enders criticizes the German F-35 purchase as "superfluous": nobody needs the US jet.
- Enders would also like to see more distance from the USA.
The discussion about the procurement of F-35 jets continues: After Portugal, Canada is now also thinking out loud about alternatives. The new Prime Minister Mark Carney made it public on March 17 that his government was reviewing the purchase of 88 aircraft worth the equivalent of 11.7 billion Swiss francs.
"It's clear that our security relationship is too focused on the United States," Carney was quoted as saying by Reuters. According to the report, his country obtains 80 percent of its defense equipment from the USA. "We need to diversify." The Swedish Saab Group, whose Gripen was inferior to the F-35, may therefore be back in the race.
And now a former Airbus boss is also fueling the debate about the F-35 in Germany: "Nobody needs an F-35," says Thomas Enders in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. And: "It is imperative that we make ourselves independent of American systems as far and as quickly as possible."
F-35 procurement "superfluous".
According to the German, Donald Trump caused this: "We simply cannot close our eyes to the fact that this American government has now become an adversary and is no longer an ally." However, Enders is against the F-35 for another reason: compared to drones, the complicated US system is far too expensive.
The warfare of the future will be based on "tens of thousands of intelligent robots on the battlefield, and today these are first and foremost drones that you can produce in small factories," explains the 66-year-old. He finds the German F-35 procurement "superfluous".
A similar discussion has recently flared up in Switzerland, which has led Air Force chief Peter Merz to publicly defend the US jet. Merz not only said that he found the criticism "almost unbearable" due to a lack of background knowledge, but also issued a clear warning about Russia's future European policy. There is therefore hardly any time for debate, the officer warned.