LONDON—The UK and Italy’s Tempest Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project is merging with Japan’s F-X fighter effort, creating a fighter project that will span the globe.
The Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) will be an equal partnership to develop a sixth-generation fighter aircraft for the 2040s.
The effort will build on the existing work already underway by industry in all three countries, including the UK’s Team Tempest as well as the multinational work on engine demonstrators and advanced sensors to develop a combat aircraft ready for front-line service in 2035.
Key UK industry players in the GCAP effort include BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, MBDA UK and Leonardo UK, all of which are members of Team Tempest.
These have been joined by Italy’s Avio Aero, Elettronica, and Leonardo. The effort in Japan will be led by IHI Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Making the long-awaited announcement on Dec. 9 with his Italian and Japanese counterparts, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the three partners would work together to produce a fighter that could “outpace and outmaneuver those who seek to do us harm.
“The next-generation of combat aircraft we design will protect us and our allies around the world by harnessing the strength of our world-beating defense industry—creating jobs while saving lives,” Sunak said.
UK defense officials say the three countries will now “work intensively” to establish the core platform concept and set up the structures, including the business model needed to deliver the project.
The aim is to deliver a full business plan by the end of 2024, enabling a move into a full development phase in 2025.
Cost and worksharing arrangements are yet to be agreed to, but will be based on a joint assessment of costs and national budgets.
The UK so far has allocated some £10 billion ($12.25 billion) to the FCAS program over 10 years, with the final budget depending on future defense reviews.
The joint work will also assess the need for additional capabilities, including weapons and additive uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), such as collaborative combat aircraft.
“The launch of the Global Combat Air Program firmly positions the UK, alongside Japan and Italy, as leaders in the design, development and production of next-generation combat air capability,” said Charles Woodburn, BAE Systems’ CEO.
He added that the agreement with Japan and Italy was “fundamental to meeting the goals set out in the UK Combat Air Strategy” and would create and sustain thousands of jobs and benefit companies across the UK.
However, it could be argued that the arrangement goes against the grain of the Combat Air Strategy, which had called on the UK to take the lead in such a development program.
Exports will remain at the “heart of the partnership,” officials say, noting that Japan’s own relatively new approach to defense exports is still evolving. Work is underway with both Japan and Italy on the aircraft’s exportability.
Officials also note the project is open to “collaboration on wider capabilities.”
Working with European partners represents a considerable break from tradition for Japan, which has worked with the U.S. as a partner on its previous combat aircraft programs. Its Mitsubishi F-2 is heavily derived from Lockheed Martin’s F-16. The UK’s partnership with Japan has evolved steadily over the last six years, beginning with cooperative research on a Joint New Air-to-Air Missile (JNAAM). Since then, the work has expanded to include Jaguar, an advanced radar antenna demonstrator between Leonardo and Mitsubishi Electric; and a fighter engine demonstrator by Rolls-Royce and Japan’s IHI, which have since been joined by Italy’s Avio Aero to create a trilateral development program.
The merging of the two programs adds volume and depth to the fighter program, which Tempest lacked.
The creation of GCAP will not affect plans for the development of a flying demonstrator, announced at the Farnborough Airshow in July, which should fly in 2027.
At the same time the GCAP announcement was made, what appears to be a third iteration of the aircraft’s design has emerged.
The design builds on a concept shown at the Farnborough Airshow that featured a YF-23-like butterfly tail combining the vertical and horizontal stabilizers into what appeared to be two large ruddervators. The latest configuration features a lambda wing with smaller vertical stabilizers fitted at a less shallow angle, while the engines appear to be more widely spaced than in the previously publicly released design iteration.
