The news came a day after Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron pulled the plug on the original programme after long-running disagreements between the firms involved.

Munich-based defence electronics firm Hensoldt said that it had teamed up with Airbus Defence and Space, Autoflug, Diehl Defence, Rohde & Schwarz, Liebherr, MBDA, MTU Aero Engines to come up with an alternative plan.

The proposal had been sent to German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, a company spokesman said. The Financial Times, which first reported the development, said it had also been sent to Merz's office.

The companies had "jointly drawn up a position paper on the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) and the associated Next Generation Weapon System (NGWS)", the Hensoldt spokesman said.

Further information on the proposal would come on Thursday in an announcement at the Berlin ILA Air Show, the spokesman added.

A spokesman for the German defence ministry confirmed the proposal's existence to AFP, while Pistorius said Berlin was considering "which direction we take".

"We've also been in discussions on this for months with various stakeholders," he added.

The failure of the original Franco-German project "pained" him, he said.

"I know how important Franco-German cooperation is in Europe, but ultimately you have to draw a line between head and heart".

The original project was seen as a key test of European efforts to work more closely on defence as the region seeks to present a united front in the face of a hostile Russia at a time of souring ties with the United States.

But it was dogged by bitter disputes between France's Dassault Aviation and Airbus, representing Spanish and German interests.

The German side had bristled at Dassault's efforts to take greater control of building the aircraft.

Merz meanwhile had said that Germany, unlike France, did not need jets that could carry nuclear weapons or fly from aircraft carriers.

bur-vbw/sr/cw

Airbus Group

Dassault Aviation