On Tuesday, BAE Systems said that it had agreed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan (7011.T) and Leonardo of Italy (LDOF.MI) to go on with the concept phase of developing a new generation of combat aircraft.
The three countries agreed on a joint effort to develop a cutting-edge first-line fighter in December 2022 to put it into service in the middle of the following decade.
According to BAE, the new Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) agreement would facilitate talks to establish procedures for operating the aircraft and define its capability needs.
In an interview, Herman Claesen, the head of BAE’s Global Capability Acceleration Program (GCAP), claimed that the company has maintained a “high tempo of engagement with industrial and government partners in Italy and Japan” since the program’s inception.
This week, BAE said at the DSEI international weapons expo in London that the three countries will inform the fair on the project’s development.
Estimates put the price tag for GCAP in the tens of billions of dollars, but the parties involved have not yet settled on a distribution plan.
Before Japan and Italy joined the project, originally known as Tempest, the British defense government invested 2 billion pounds.
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