While the priority is to support anti-submarine warfare missions, the MoD also suggested potential use cases for ship-to-ship resupply and casualty evacuation.
"One of the pitfalls from the past was that we were focusing too much on national requirements instead of Alliance or coalition requirements," said Maj. Gen. Andre Steur, national capability director in the Dutch Defence Ministry.
France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom will work on the concept together, while European industry will work to keep their American competitors out.
Army, International Partners At EDGE22 Express Interest In Opportunities To Collab On FVL Development defensedaily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from defensedaily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
"I think we want to see interoperability as we digitize our forces, especially in our aviation formations. That's the focus," Brig. Gen. Robert Barrie, head of the US Army’s Program Executive Office-Aviation, told Breaking Defense.