UK, Italy, Japan award £4.6 bn contract to advance GCAP fighter jet

Britain, Italy and Japan awarded a £4.6 billion ($6.14 billion) contract to industry joint venture Edgewing to build the new Global Combat Air Programme fighter jet, the ​UK government said on Friday, advancing the project to the next ‌phase of development.

After nine months of delays over its squeezed military budget, Britain committed on Tuesday £8.6 billion over four years to GCAP, providing its share of the funding for the tri-nation project as ​part of efforts to boost defence.

"The Global Combat Air Programme will give ​our pilots a cutting-edge stealth fighter jet. Signing this £4.6 billion contract alongside ⁠Italy and Japan is a major step forward towards delivery," Luke Pollard, Britain's ​minister for defence readiness, said in a statement.

The contract award comes after a rival ​Franco-German fighter programme collapsed in June, leaving European defence alliances in flux, and making it more likely that another country could seek to join GCAP.

BAE Systems in Britain, Leonardo in Italy and Mitsubishi ​Heavy Industries in Japan are developing GCAP, a sixth-generation stealth fighter that the countries ​want ready by 2035.

Through GCAP, also known as Tempest in the UK, the countries can share ‌tens ⁠of billions of dollars in costs to build an advanced fighter jet and secure more orders. They will also look to international markets to boost sales.


-Reuters