April 21 (Reuters) - Europe must move to build a networked "combat cloud" linking fighters, even if that means the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) ends up operating on different jets, the chief of Airbus' military division Michael Schoellhorn said at a trade show on Tuesday.
He said Airbus did not sign up to act as a subordinate supplier in a French-led programme and reiterated support for a genuinely balanced industrial partnership, as approved by Germany's parliament.
If that proved impossible, he said, the fighter element could be split off from FCAS, potentially leaving Europe to field two or three different next-generation manned or optionally manned aircraft.
(Reporting by Maria Rugamer, editing by Maria Martinez)
