diff --git a/3rdparty/CMakeLists.txt b/3rdparty/CMakeLists.txt
index bac994000..72588c9fe 100644
--- a/3rdparty/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/3rdparty/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,4 +3,6 @@ if (NOT SYSTEM_SQLITE)
     add_subdirectory(sqlite3)
 endif()
 
-add_subdirectory(iaxclient/lib)
+if (ENABLE_IAX)
+    add_subdirectory(iaxclient/lib)
+endif()
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4b10ff4eb..809c48c5c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ option(ENABLE_RTI        "Set to ON to build FlightGear with RTI support" OFF)
 option(ENABLE_PROFILE    "Set to ON to build FlightGear with gperftools profiling support" OFF)
 option(JPEG_FACTORY      "Set to ON to build FlightGear with JPEG-factory support" OFF)
 option(SYSTEM_SQLITE     "Set to ON to build FlightGear with the system's SQLite3 library" OFF)
+option(ENABLE_IAX        "Set to ON to build FlightGear with IAXClient/fgcom built-in (default)" ON)
 
 # additional utilities
 option(ENABLE_FGADMIN    "Set to ON to build the FGADMIN application (default)" ON)
@@ -165,6 +166,10 @@ if(SP_FDMS)
     set(ENABLE_SP_FDM 1)
 endif()
 
+if(ENABLE_FGCOM)
+  set(ENABLE_IAX 1)
+endif()
+
 # Setup MSVC 3rd party directories
 include( ConfigureMsvc3rdParty )