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(Adds details, quotes, context to negotiations)
By Tangi Salaün
PARIS, April 20 (Reuters) - France and Germany's defence
ministers on Tuesday set a deadline of end-April to broker a
deal over the future of a next-generation combat jet, Europe's
largest defence project.
Earlier this month, the European companies involved in the
project concluded talks with an agreement on how to share work
on the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), an array of manned and
unmanned warplanes backed by France, Germany and Spain.
But there are still differences over engine development and
intellectual property rights.
"We both think the same thing: we need a deal by the end of
April and I am confident we can get there together," French
Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told a joint news
conference after talks in Paris.
Parly described the political negotiations on the flagship
European defence project as frank. German Defence Minister
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said the two sides were working
"almost day and night" to find an agreement.
There were "very tangible interests" at stake,
Kramp-Karrenbauer added. She cited intellectual property rights
as one area of disagreement.
The FCAS is designed to replace the Eurofighter, developed
by Airbus, Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Leonardo, and the
Rafale made by France's Dassault, from 2040.
The industrial agreement on the share of work saw Dassault
Aviation win leadership of the fighter plane while
Airbus, representing Germany and Spain, has a
two-thirds overall share of the project.
Defence procurement is a sensitive topic in Germany,
especially in an election year. The vote means the project faces
tight deadlines in a country where the powerful parliamentary
budget committee has a decisive say.
(Reporting by Tangi Salaun and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Writing
by GV De Clercq and Richard Lough; Editing by Alison Williams
and Peter Graff)
