Belgium's government has decided to set up a committee to advise it on possible participation in a new-generation combat air programme, Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder (Parti Socialiste) said on Wednesday.
“In view of the progress of the various sixth-generation combat aircraft projects, it seems more appropriate for Belgium to focus on the promising underlying technologies,” the Defence Minister told the House Defence Committee in response to a question from Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA) parliamentarian Peter Buysrogge, who chairs the committee.
The government has therefore decided to set up a technical advisory committee called 'Next Generation Combat Aircraft Technologies' as part of the Research, Industry and Defence Strategy (DIRS) that it approved on 16 September last, Ms Dedonder said.
It will be responsible for studying and drawing up a proposal for Belgian participation in the development of the next generation of combat aircraft systems, she said.
According to the minister, a proposal will be submitted to the Council of Ministers and the House Military Procurement Committee “in the course of 2023”. She recalled that the ambition of the Ministry of Defence was, thanks to the DIRS, to participate from the outset in development programmes, to position Belgian companies and, in the long term, to enable Defence to use the capabilities with all possible technological advances.
The Belgian aeronautics industry has been urging the federal government for years to join one of the new-generation combat air projects under development, whatever it may be, while being careful not to decide in favour of the Franco-German-Spanish Future Air Combat System (SCAF) or the British Tempest with Italian and Swedish participation.
The Tempest has been expanded to include Japan, which in December joined the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) that also involves the UK and Italy.
