Germany, France, Spain reach general agreement over fighter jet: Source

Germany, France and Spain have reached a general agreement over the next steps in the development of a joint fighter jet, a German defence source said, with details to be hammered out by mid-May.

Participants in the programme will put together a list of intellectual property rights in the future jet by mid May, spelling out which will be open for use by everyone and which will remain with specific companies, the source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Indra are involved in the scheme to start replacing France's Rafale and German and Spanish Eurofighters from 2040, with the next step of development expected to cost 2.5 billion euros ($3.00 billion) in total.