Aerospace 

Germany shouldn’t buy the F-35, Europe needs military independence – Airbus Defense CEO

The CEO of Airbus Defense urged Europe to keep its military independence and warned Germany not to procure F-35s from the US, arguing it would kill the Franco-German effort to build their own fifth-generation jet.

“As soon as Germany becomes an F-35 nation, cooperation on all combat aircraft issues with France is dead,” Dirk Hoke, the CEO of Airbus Defense and Space at Airbus Group, told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

“Europe needs to define its sovereignty more clearly and state that we need to remain independent in defense and space,” Hoke said, referring to the joint Franco-German project to develop a fifth-generation fighter, according to the newspaper.