GCAP next-gen fighter joint venture likely to be running by this summer

Japan Times

23-05-2025

A joint venture set to deliver a next-generation fighter jet for Japan, Britain and Italy is expected to be up and running by this summer, top officials from the three core companies involved in the project have told The Japan Times, with the business construct expecting to receive its first contract by the year's end.
'We are nearing completion of the standard regulatory process, which will then allow us to set up the joint venture,' Herman Claesen — managing director for future combat air systems at Britain's BAE Systems, one of the three main firms involved — said in an exclusive interview.
Headquartered in the United Kingdom, the new business — which will also include Italy's Leonardo and the Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. (JAIEC), a joint venture launched last July between the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) — will be responsible for the industrial side of the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP).
Each of the firms will hold an equal 33.3% shareholding in the new company, which will initially be led by an Italian. The joint venture will be headquartered in the English town of Reading but will also feature joint teams working in each of the partner nations.
'Hopefully, over the summer, we'll be announcing the new company and more details around it,' Claesen said during this year's DSEI Japan defense exhibition in the city of Chiba.
The joint venture, he added, would then prepare to receive its first engineering contract from the GCAP International Government Organization (GIGO) set up last year to manage the multibillion-dollar project.
The future sixth-generation aircraft is intended to replace aging Air Self-Defense Force F-2 jets, as well as British and Italian Eurofighters, with the first units expected to enter service by 2035.
With the aircraft's conceptual design stage now complete, the project is now set to advance to the detailed design and development phases.
Sources familiar with GCAP, however, say that the program is not progressing as fast as originally expected, not just because of the regulatory approval process, but also because the parties involved appear to still be ironing out differences over workload distribution and access to intellectual property.
Just how much this will affect the envisaged 2035 entry-into-service date of the new supersonic aircraft is unclear.
Claesen said that while 2035 remains the target date, the project is 'incredibly challenging, and there's still a lot of analysis to be done, detailed work to be established.'
'We continuously evaluate how we are sitting against our 2035 targets,' he said. 'That hasn't finished yet.'
Kimito Nakae —president of the Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co., a joint venture launched last July between the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — says three countries are in the process of coordinating where each other's strengths lie so that they can better distribute the workload going forward. |
Gabriel Dominguez
GCAP, which will also see the development and use of cutting-edge technology, marks the first time that Japan is cooperating with countries other than the United States to meet a major defense requirement.
Speaking to The Japan Times, JAIEC President Kimito Nakae said the three sides are in the process of coordinating where each other's strengths lie so that they can better distribute the workload going forward.
For Japan, which has not participated in multinational defense projects of this size, an important goal is to gain valuable experience and expertise for future programs, in not only the military sectors, but the civilian side as well.
'Japan's industry is not very familiar with the European standards and processes for developing aircraft, so we also see this as an opportunity to acquire knowledge and share it with related companies,' Nakae said.
Asked about why Japan will enter the new business construct with its own joint venture, Nakae said that JAIEC was established to strengthen supply chains while also contributing to the project with a much wider pool of experts from across the country's aerospace industry.
Building fighter jets involves a complex supply chain, meaning that GCAP will comprise more than one industry construct.
Several companies are set to come together as lead subsystem integrators in three broad domains. One such industrial construct — in charge of propulsion systems — will comprise Rolls-Royce, IHI and Avio Aero, while another featuring MBDA U.K., MBDA Italy and Mitsubishi Electric will join forces to develop the aircraft's future weapon systems.
Last but not least, Leonardo Electronics Italy, Leonardo U.K., Mitsubishi Electric and ELT Group will work together on developing integrated communications as well as a fully integrated sensing and nonkinetic effects capability that will help provide a more comprehensive situational awareness picture in order to maximize survivability.
Representatives from these four companies told The Japan Times that the aim is to develop and integrate cutting-edge technologies that not only allow the aircraft to sense a wide array of potential threats, but also to interlink with other platforms and assets in the battlespace, including drones and legacy systems, to provide commanders with a better overview of the situation and different options on how to best counter threats.
The GCAP platform 'will be a force multiplier for legacy platforms,' company officials said. The capacity to collect, receive and share data will be enhanced, with the new tech also being able to link up with earlier-generation equipment, be it naval, maritime, land or space and include drones, they added.
GCAP's capacity to manage information flows in a battle space will be 'significantly greater than anything that's been done before.'
The companies' representatives said that after cooperating over the past two years on work allocation, they now have 'a really clear understanding of how the work will flow going forward,' adding that they are now moving to finalize the commercial structure – a consortium – that will allow them to receive the first contracts from the joint venture.
Herman Claesen, managing director for future combat air systems at Britain's BAE Systems, one of the three main firms involved in building a next-generation fighter jet for Japan, Britain and Italy, poses next to a model of the aircraft at the DSEI Japan defense exhibition in the city of Chiba this week. |
Gabriel Dominguez
While the GCAP project is mainly centered around the aircraft, a number of companies have already begun working separately on adjunct systems such as drones and trainers, with MHI unveiling this year two uncrewed aircraft concepts, as well as the T-X trainer concept for future GCAP platform pilots. The company said it is also open to the possibility of exporting the trainer and collaborating with other firms.
The three partner governments are also considering whether to invite other countries to join, particularly Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has shown an interest in the multinational program, but there are also unconfirmed reports that Australia, Canada and India might be looking to participate.
No official information has emerged on future partnership plans, including which additional countries are being formally considered or what their exact role or contribution to GCAP would be. Experts say that any such decision is only likely to be made once the joint venture has been launched.
BAE Systems' Claesen said that when it comes to cooperating with other partners, the door is open. But ultimately, he said, it will be the choice of the three governments to decide who joins, how they join and under what circumstances.
'As the industry side, we will respond to what the governments want to do within that context,' Claesen said.