” according to sources.”

Lets wait a bit, shall we?

“With regards to Spain, most announcements said they would join in “observer” role.”

The Spanish already have an “Observer” status inside of the program, if they maintain that particular role or they join has a full member is not yet on the public domain. With Airbus pushing for an active Spanish involvement i suspect that Spain will indeed join the program.

ps – Just noticed post 78, thats pretty much official, the Spanish are in (and the F-35A might just have lost a possible client)

The Airbus/Eurofighter assembly line at Getafe produces a) one of the wings and the leading edge slats for all Eurofighter airframes and b) assembles the “Ejercito del Aire” Phoons. The production of the wing and the “LEAS” will be maintained till the last airframe is delivered, the assemblage of the airframes for the “Ea”will end next year IF Airbus doesn’t win the replacement order for the oldest Hornets at Gando, the RFI was sent to Airbus, Boeing and LM last year. If the German order being discussed above is confirmed the Spanish will arguably follow.
If the assembly of Eurofighter airframes in Spain stops next year i doubt that´s much of a problem for Airbus, Getafe is a huge production and development center, the Phoon is just one of a multitude of programs being adressed there, the majority of the workforce will be re-routed for something else.

(ps – That article… Giovanni de Briganti, mixing correct information with wishfull thinking, the usual…)
Cheers

And a bad excuse …

Dassault just bugged out of the RCAF competition.

https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2018/11/07/dassault-withdraws-from-canadas-fighter-jet-competition/

The “thing” that you´ve circled in red its a mock up of the “old” FCAS drone, the wings are not asymmetrical, the photo was taken with a very wide angle, that produces a heavy bit of image distortion. I cant see one single hint for “collapside verticals”.

https://twitter.com/xaviervav/status/1054330106339123203?s=19