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​​​​​​​BREAKING!

India will join either the Tempest or FCAS 6th generation fighter programs, Indian MoD tells Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence

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https://x.com/Defence_Index/status/2...302571092?s=20

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BREAKING: Poland is moving to join the Global Combat Air Programme, a next gen 6th generation multi role fighter initiative led by Italy, Japan, and the UK.

Official talks are underway with Italian and Japanese aviation industries, signaling a major leap for the Polish Air Force.

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​​​​​​​UK Greenlights Global Combat Aircraft Programme: Second 6th-Gen Stealth Fighter

The United Kingdom's Prime Minister Keir Starmer has approved the development of the Global Combat Aircraft Programme (GCAP), a collaborative effort between the UK, Italy, and Japan to create the world's second 6th-generation stealth fighter aircraft.

​​​​​​​This decision, announced after the UK government's recent endorsement, is set to be formally declared in the upcoming weeks.

The GCAP initiative combines the UK and Italy's Tempest Project with Japan's F-X programme.

Despite prior concerns linked to the Labour Party's Strategic Defence Review, which questioned the UK's financial commitment, Prime Minister Starmer's approval has secured UK participation.

The program has a target completion date of 2035, although the project's total cost remains undisclosed.

Jointly developed by BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo Aerospace, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the GCAP will be headquartered in the UK......

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Japan sounds alarm over UK delays to combat aircraft project

Tokyo frustrated by funding hold-ups that are preventing the signing of a development contract


Japan is growing increasingly doubtful about the UK’s commitment to their joint fighter development programme with Italy, with crucial development work stalled by British budgetary foot-dragging.

The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), which aims to put next-generation fighters in the skies by 2035, is a landmark effort by Japan, the UK and Italy to challenge US dominance in military technology. But a series of delays to the UK’s defence investment plan is preventing the signing of a vital contract for design and development work with Edgewing, the commercial joint venture between the three nations’ leading defence contractors.

“Frankly speaking, it’s a terrible situation,” said one person involved in GCAP, referring to the hold-up of project work caused by the UK. A second person involved acknowledged there was a sense of “growing frustration” on the part of Japan.

In addition to funding questions, two people familiar with the matter also suggested the two capitals had different priorities for the programme.

Tokyo’s main aim is to produce a new fighter by the mid-2030s, whereas London and Rome are more interested in GCAP producing a cutting-edge “system of systems” — a jet that operates in concert with a swarm of drones — over a less rigid timetable, one of the people said.

One of them added that this could leave the UK “tempted” to try to slow the timetable to make it more affordable in the short term.

The friction between the governments comes at a time when anxieties are rising about global security because of the war in the Middle East and an unpredictable US under the Trump administration that has urged its Nato allies to do more to defend themselves.

GCAP was intended to create a successor to the current generation of jets flown by the three nations, helping to reduce reliance on more advanced F-35 fighters supplied by the US, which are a mainstay for Nato air forces.

The UK had initially planned to publish the 10-year defence investment plan in autumn 2025, but this has been repeatedly postponed because of fiscal constraints with a funding gap identified of up to £28bn over a decade, according to officials.

At the start of this year, Italy estimated that its share of the design and development phase would cost €18.6bn, triple its previous forecast. Last month, Rome approved a budget that included an €8.8bn tranche of funding for the programme.

Japan’s deepening worries over the delays to the UK’s defence spending plans and whether GCAP’s funding requirements will be ring fenced have been expressed at ministerial levels, the people said.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer tried to reassure Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi of Britain’s commitment during his visit this year, but in the absence of any funding his reassurances did not hold much sway, said two people familiar with the visit.

The programme’s industry partners had expected the international contract to be signed last September. The contract would have released the next tranche of funding — expected to be in the billions of pounds — to the Edgewing consortium. The signing, however, was repeatedly pushed back amid delays to the publication of the UK’s defence investment plan.

The main companies involved — BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — have continued engineering and design work under existing national funding streams, but fear the UK money will run out in the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with the programme.

Tokyo has shifted its stance to become more open to signing deals with potential customers for the fighter jet to reduce the funding requirements on the UK, with Canada a leading potential customer, according to two of the people. Japanese officials stressed that Tokyo is reluctant to allow the entry of any new design and development partner, however, given the complexities.

Japan resisted a push last year by the UK and Italy to get Saudi Arabia involved in the development. Saudi Arabia was still in talks to join in some form, according to two people familiar with the situation.

UK defence secretary John Healey told MPs this year he was “determined that the momentum of the [GCAP] programme is maintained”. On Monday he told parliament the government was “working flat out to settle the defence investment plan”, but gave no sign it was due to be published imminently.

A UK Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “The depth of collaboration between all three nations is clear — in the last year alone we’ve seen the trilateral GCAP headquarters open in Reading and the launch of the joint venture made up of industry organisations from all three nations to deliver the programme. Our immediate priority is working with all parties on signing the first major international contract for GCAP as soon as possible.”

Japan’s Ministry of Defence said Edgewing contract negotiations were in the final stages and “we do not believe this will lead to delays in the programme”. It added that “if there are countries expressing their interest, we will, together with the UK and Italy, take their interest and perspectives into account and respond in a way that helps improve the programme”.

An Edgewing spokesperson said GCAP is “proceeding on schedule, with engineering work . . . moving briskly forward”. The “GCAP Agency and Edgewing are continuing to ramp up and operate in line with our planning,” they added.

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https://x.com/Rotorfocus/status/2039...674738616?s=20

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​​​​​​​A long-awaited first #GCAP contract has been issued to @EdgewingLtdby the GCAP Agency or GIGO.

Worth £686 million, the money will support gearing up "design and engineering activities" for the new fighter.

More details soon.

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Money starts flowing for new GCAP fighter, as Britain sorts out finances

ROME — Italy, Japan and the U.K. have signed a stopgap contract to keep work going on their joint GCAP fighter program for three months, giving the U.K. time to free up more funding.

The joint program office created by the three nations announced the signing of a £686 million ($906 million) development contract on Thursday with Edgewing, the joint venture set up to develop the sixth-generation jet by local champions BAE Systems, Leonardo, and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd. (JAIEC).

“The £686 million contract invests in key design and engineering activities and enables the trilateral partnership to build momentum and accelerate pace of delivery,” the tri-government GCAP agency said.

Edgewing’s first contract follows growing concern over delays in funding caused by ongoing uncertainty over the U.K.’s Defense Investment Plan, which was due to contain GCAP cash.
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A source on the program told Defense News the new contract is a “bridge” allowing work to continue until the end of June, when it is hoped the U.K. spending plan will be complete and a second, larger contract can be signed.
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To date Italy, the U.K. and Japan have created separate funding for the program. The new contract is the first time they have signed a single contract with Edgewing.

“This is the first time in history that responsibility for the technical design and development of a combat aircraft program has been fully vested in a new international prime contractor, and we are making every effort to live up to this responsibility.” said the Edgewing spokesman.

Masami Oka, GCAP Agency Chief Executive said, “This contract is an important moment for GCAP, as activities previously conducted under three nations’ contracts will now be carried out as part of a fully-fledged international program.”

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Canada is lobbying to be admitted to the UK, Italy and Japan’s joint advanced fighter jet development programme, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Canada wants to participate in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) as an “observer”, the people said, in its latest attempt to distance itself from the US and strengthen ties with other trading partners.

A Canadian government official told the FT that Ottawa’s efforts were part of its attempts to “diversify defence procurement and grow partnership with like-minded allies”. A formal request had been sent to the UK and letters to Japan and Italy would follow shortly, the official said.

Observer status would grant Ottawa access to certain confidential project information while it considered whether to participate as a buyer or joint development partner at a later stage, the people said.

The country’s entrance to the programme could be decided at a meeting in July. Officials familiar with the project said Canada’s admission was “highly likely” to be agreed, but that there had previously been division among the original trio over expanding the group.

Canada’s lobbying efforts come as the progress of GCAP has stumbled over concerns about UK funding amid delays to the country’s long-term defence spending strategy.

Officials in Tokyo and London said the “observer status” role had been devised to create a pathway into the multibillion-dollar GCAP for other nations that avoided a complicated and time-consuming process of expanding the core trio of Japan, UK and Italy. The programme is targeting first delivery in 2035.

/continues...

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Britain’s stealth fighter project faces 10-week funding deadline

BAE Systems, one of the defence groups involved, says it will ‘redeploy’ staff if longer-term funds not secured

Britain’s stealth fighter project faces a 10-week deadline to secure new government funds or risk its teams being disbanded, one of the defence groups involved has warned.

More than 4,000 staff in the UK — across BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo UK and other companies — are already working on the project, as well as on a demonstrator aircraft designed to test a range of technologies for the broader Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), according to industry executives.

The supersonic demonstrator jet, a UK-only initiative, will be the country’s first since the one built for the Eurofighter Typhoon almost 40 years ago.

A stopgap funding deal for the projects, agreed in March, is set to expire at the end of June.

“If there is no contract, if there’s no money flowing, then as industries we have no choice but to contain our cost and redeploy these people,” said Herman Claesen, managing director for future combat air systems at BAE.

Claesen said the risks were “clearly understood by all parties involved”, adding that “we will never want it to come to that point”.

GCAP is an international programme led by the UK, Italy and Japan. The UK test aircraft — due to be ready to fly by the end of 2027 — is seen as critical to the programme’s goal of having an advanced fighter jet in service by 2035.

The UK last month agreed a deal to allow work on GCAP and the demonstrator to continue past a year-end March deadline.

The deal followed concern at delays from international partners, in particular from Japan. The funding enabled the three countries to sign the first international contract with Edgewing, the industrial consortium consisting of BAE, Leonardo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-backed Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement.

The contract had originally been expected by the end of last year but was delayed amid wrangling between the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury over funding for the government’s Defence Investment Plan, its 10-year military strategy.

The money, however, only runs to the end of June as the UK continues to finalise the plan.

At BAE alone, between 1,800 and 2,000 people are engaged on the two projects.

Claesen stressed that despite the funding concerns in the UK, at no point has work ever stopped.

“It’s not been easy, it’s not been straightforward. We’ve had to make it work. If you talk to engineers in Edgewing or BAE or Leonardo . . . they would say they hadn’t noticed,” said Claesen. Relations with Japan in the programme, he added, were “still excellent”.

“If one partner is wobbling a bit, or not making the immediate commitment itself, of course you can ask questions and that’s what they’re doing. But they want the commitment to happen,” he said, adding that the UK government was “trying to provide the assurances”.

Simon Barnes, group managing director of the air sector at BAE, said the company had “absolute confidence in everything continuing as planned . . . we’ve got to focus on the timing element now”.

Rolls-Royce and Leonardo UK did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There is no precise figure for the final cost of GCAP but the MoD said in 2023 the bill to the UK could come to £12bn over a decade.

The ministry pointed to the opening of the GCAP headquarters in Reading and its first international contract as evidence of progress.

It said GCAP “sits at the core of the UK Future Combat Air System” and is “strategically vital to UK military capability, strengthening international relationships, our Nato commitments and sustaining our world-class defence industrial base”.

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Japan calls next-gen fighter program “critical”

Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi met Wednesday with the CEO of GCAP’s joint venture design company to declare the three-nation next-generation fighter program “an extremely important project that will determine Japan’s future air capabilities,” Nikkei reported.

The meeting, held at the Japanese parliament, brought Koizumi together with Marco Zoff, chief executive of Edgewing, the private joint venture responsible for designing the aircraft being developed jointly by Japan, the United Kingdom, and Italy under the Global Combat Air Programme.

Zoff used the meeting to press for pace, telling the minister that moving the program forward with unprecedented speed was essential. The exchange reflects a tension that has run through GCAP since the three nations formally announced the program in December 2022: the political ambition to field a sixth-generation stealth fighter by 2035 is running against the engineering and industrial timelines that programs of this complexity typically require.

Edgewing was established specifically to manage that challenge, consolidating design authority across three national defense industries that each bring distinct priorities, technical traditions, and industrial workforces to the table……..

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