PARIS, Oct. 16 -- France has stopped waiting for a partner on its next fighter jet, and the deadline now comes from its nuclear arsenal. General Jerome Bellanger, chief of staff of the Air and Space Force, told the National Assembly's defense committee on Wednesday that the successor to the Rafale, called the Avion de Combat du Futur or ACF, will be a national program.

Bellanger said France is now moving on to "work that will prefigure and enable the birth of this ACF, this future combat aircraft as a national program." Other countries can still take part, he added, "but within different frameworks and which won't be structural to the birth of this aircraft." The decision follows the FCAS fighter jet project that France and Germany agree...