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.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Pistorius said the proposal from the eight firms was one of a number of options Berlin was examining.

"It is conceivable and one possibility," he said, adding that purchasing American F-35 fighter jets or participating in other ongoing projects were also possible.

Britain, Japan and Italy are working on a new fighter system known as the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), but joining the project late could present a host of technical challenges.

- 'Disappointment' -

Speaking to the Handelsblatt newspaper, Holger Neumann, commander of Germany's air forces, said he was in favour of F-35 jets as a stop-gap solution until the next generation of European jets was online.

The original FCAS project, started in 2017, came to be seen as a key test of European unity on defence as the region faces a hostile Russia and souring ties with the United States.

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

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

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

Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space, told the Berlin Aviation Summit on Tuesday that it was "a disappointment" that "we didn't find a way forward that would have worked for both companies".

However he insisted that "the bigger story" of the project would continue despite the "impasse" over the fighter jet.

Earlier in the day, Pistorius said the failure of the Franco-German project had "pained" him.

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

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Airbus Group

Dassault Aviation