Britain, Japan and Italy sign advanced fighter jet programme treaty

IHI

14/12/2023 04:00

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Britain, Japan and Italy have
signed an international treaty to establish a combat air
programme aimed at developing an advanced fighter jet, Britain's
Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. 
    The agreement, which Reuters reported earlier this month,
comes a year after the three countries established their first
major defence industry collaboration by merging the separate
next-generation fighter efforts of London and Tokyo.
    The parliaments of each country must ratify the agreement,
which aims to see the combat aircraft in flight by 2035. The
joint development phase of the programme is due to launch in
2025.   
    Both the joint government headquarters of the Global Combat
Air Programme (GCAP) and its industry counterpart will be based
in Britain. The government organisation's first chief executive
will come from Japan, while the first leader of the business
organisation will be from Italy, Britain said.
    "Our world-leading combat aircraft programme aims to be
crucial to global security and we continue to make hugely
positive progress toward delivery of the new jets to our
respective air forces," British defence minister Grant Shapps
said.
    Shapps and his Japanese and Italian counterparts, Minoru
Kihara and Guido Crosetto, met in Tokyo on Thursday.   
    The supersonic stealth jet will feature a radar that can
provide 10,000 times more data than current systems, the British
government said.
    Britain's BAE Systems  BAES.L , Italy's Leonardo  LDOF.MI ,
European missile maker MBDA and engine maker Rolls-Royce
 RROYC.UL  are involved in the project.
    Reuters has previously reported that Japan's Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries  7011.T , Japanese avionics manufacturer
Mitsubishi Electric Corp  6503.T , and engine makers IHI Corp
 7013.T  and Avio Aero are also involved.

 (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
 ((kylie.maclellan@thomsonreuters.com;))