Italy says Germany and other countries may be interested in GCAP jet programme (updated)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

04/12/2025 09:58

Adds more quotes from Italy's defence minister and background from paragraph 4

ROME, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Italy's defence minister on Thursday said other countries, including Germany and Australia, may be interested in entering the GCAP fighter jet programme in the future, with requests also coming from Saudi Arabia and Canada.

The GCAP, which currently involves Italy, Britain and Japan, is an effort to build a next-generation fighter by 2035 and is being led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 7011.T in Japan, BAE Systems BAES.L in Britain and Leonardo LDOF.MI in Italy.

"Germany could probably join this project in the future," Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told a parliamentary hearing.

 Germany is part of the 100-billion-euro ($117 billion) Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme, which includes France and Spain and has been mired
in disputes
 between the companies involved over workshare and prized technology.

 "We are creating the conditions to ensure that every country that wants to join this programme knows what path to follow," Crosetto told lawmakers, adding he believed "Australia may also be interested" in joining the GCAP venture.

 The project envisions stealth fighters operating in tandem with drones, and Crosetto stressed that the three founding nations had agreed to cooperate on equal terms.

 "The more countries join, the greater the critical mass you can invest in, the more brain power you can bring together, the greater the economic return, and the less it costs us," the minister said.

($1 = 0.8566 euros)

(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Giulia Segreti and Kate Mayberry)

((Angelo.Amante@thomsonreuters.com;))