Italy defence minister demands equal weight in UK, Japan fighter partnership
Trouble ahead?
19/12/2022
ROME (Reuters) - Italy must have equal treatment in a partnership with Britain and Japan to develop a new jet fighter, Rome's defence minister told Reuters, as talks proceed to define the roles each country has in the ambitious project.
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Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, a co-founder of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, said Rome would make a final decision on how much to invest in the multi-billion-dollar project after more details had been defined.
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"Italy can only continue along this path if it has the same weight as Japan and Britain on technology, research and later, if it comes to that, on the results," he said in an interview, adding that he wanted a "33%-33%-33%" breakdown.
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Crosetto said there should be no bar on joining forces with the rival European programme, adding that the GCAP should also aim to find new partners, especially within Europe.
"I think the challenge is to accelerate significantly the research and technology part and then become attractive to other nations in the next two or three years," he said.