UK, Italy, Japan team up for new fighter jet

The deal aims to put an advanced front-line fighter aircraft into operation by 2035, by combining the UK-led Future Combat Air System project, also known as Tempest, with Japan’s F-X program, the three countries said in a joint statement on Friday, Aljazeera reported.

The collaboration will be called the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).

“We are committed to upholding the rules-based, free and open international order, which is more important than ever at a time when these principles are contested, and threats and aggression are increasing,” the countries’ three leaders said in the statement.

The statement said the project had been designed with “our allies and partners at its very heart” and with “future interoperability” in the United States, Europe, NATO, and the Asia Pacific.

“We share ambition for this aircraft to be the centerpiece of a wider combat air system that will function across multiple domains,” the statement said.

RHM/PR