Italy stated on 23 September 2023 that it will assume an equal partnership with the United Kingdom and Japan in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
The move follows the agreement among the three nations in December 2022 to collaborate on developing a next-generation fighter: a decision that merged the UK/Italian Tempest/Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme with Japan’s F-X future fighter programme.
“The Global Combat Air Programme, or GCAP, is an actual trinational programme based on the principle of equal sharing, as the prime ministers stated in the Joint Ministerial Declaration last December,” Reuters quoted the Italian Ministry of Defence (MoD) as stating. “The final decision will therefore encompass an equal and balanced share of costs and benefits.”
Sweden, meanwhile, has yet to decide on closer collaboration with the programme, although a few weeks after the December 2022 GCAP announcement it signed an agreement with Japan “on the Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology” in relation to the project.
Reuters also reported that the three partner countries were planning to choose the UK as the headquarters for the programme, which would be logical given the UK’s seminal design work on the Tempest programme.
However, the Italian MoD only stated on 23 September, “The three ministries of defence are currently conducting a study on the most suitable governance to achieve the capability goal by 2035.”
The GCAP partners have so far stuck to the pacing goal of delivering a next-generation fighter by 2035.
Peter Felstead
