FRANKFURT (Reuters) - France's Dassault Aviation (PA:AVMD) aims to take the lead on the development of a new European fighter jet, its chief executive told a German magazine.
"Experience has shown, if you want a defence project to be successful it needs someone to be responsible, a leader," German weekly WirtschaftsWoche quoted Eric Trappier as saying in an interview.
France and Germany are expected to announce details of a planned new warplane at the ILA Berlin Air Show, which starts on April 25.
The project involves Dassault, MBDA, Thales (PA:TCFP) and Safran (PA:SAF) on the French side and Airbus (PA:AIR) on the German side.
"We can take the lead role," Dassault's Trappier told WirtschaftsWoche.
"The fact is: We are the only company in Europe that can built a complete fighter jet from A to Z and are the only ones who have 70 years of experience and skills," he said.
He said he did not expect resistance from Airbus if it was given a junior role in the project, according to the magazine.