[5] Dassault will serve as prime contractor for the NGF, while Airbus will lead the development of accompanying remote carrier vehicles and the broader system's supporting combat cloud.

[11] The FCAS concept was developed in the frame of the European Technology Acquisition Programme (ETAP) that was started in 2001 as a co-operation between Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden and Spain.

In 2017 Germany and Spain asked Airbus to start working on a proposal for a new fighter under the name Future Combat Air System (FCAS).

[12][13] At the 2018 ILA Berlin Air Show, Dassault Aviation and Airbus announced an agreement to cooperate on the development of the FCAS.

[19] Dassault, Airbus, together with their partners MTU Aero Engines, Safran, MBDA and Thales, were awarded the initial framework contract which launches the demonstrator phase.