Germany and France on Monday scrapped a landmark project to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet, a core component of Europe’s rearmament effort. 

Lingering disagreements between defense contractors in the two countries ultimately killed the deal.

The death of the program, launched in 2017, underscores the difficulty for Europe’s largest countries to unify around complex industrial goals, even when they agree on the urgency to counter Russian aggression and build defense systems independent of the US.

“It’s hardly ideal signalling either to Washington or to Moscow,” an aerospace expert said. Other multinational defense programs in Europe, including drone and tank projects, have also faced hurdles in recent years.