The update follows the creation of the GCAP intergovernmental body last year.

 

Industry representatives from the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) revealed new details at DSEI Japan 2025 on the future joint venture (JV) that will lead the design and development of the aircraft, as they continue to eye a 2035 service-entry date.

GCAP is “working hard to establish the joint venture…once this is established it will be possible for the governments of each country to establish a cooperative relationship with each company, rather than having separate relationships”, Mr Tomohiro Kawada, Director of GCAP - Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) at the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced at the event.

Individual equipment manufacturers will then be selected by the JV, Kawada added.

Following the session, an industry representative revealed to DSEI’s editor-in-chief that they expect the cooperative JV to be up and running this year, and potentially within the next few months.

The name of the JV will be confirmed once the initiative is established, the representative added.

When established, the JV will manage the sixth-generation fighter programme’s design, development and delivery.

Along with Kawada, the GCAP panel included speakers from BAE Systems, Leonardo, and the Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Company (JAIEC), which together inked an agreement to begin the process of forming the JV back in December 2024.

Together, they will represent “an empowered joint delivery enterprise, with the GIGO on the government side and the joint venture on the industry side”, Air Vice-Marshal (Retd) Phil Brooker OBE, Programme & Technical Director of GIGO said.

 

GCAP collaboration in the wider strategic context

Visiting the event on 22 May, Japan’s Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru announced during his keynote that “GCAP brings together cutting-edge technologies from Japan, the UK and Italy to jointly develop fighters to protect the skies of Asia and Europe. This initiative will lay the foundation for broad cooperation with both the UK and Italy for generations to come”.

This was reiterated by the UK Minister of State for Defence Procurement and Industry Maria Eagle at the event: “As the world becomes more unstable, it's crucial that trusted allies like the UK and Japan cement an ever-closer relationship. This is well illustrated by GCAP. GCAP is breaking down barriers to defense collaboration between our nations”.

“GCAP maybe the crown jewel of our two countries defense industrial collaborations”, she added.

 

Timelines

GCAP partners are eyeing a 2035 in-service date for the sixth-generation fighter jet, although the programme extends beyond just the aircraft to an iterative system-of-systems platform.

The fighter aircraft itself is expected to have an in-service life extending to 2070 and beyond.

The programme launched in 2022, with a treaty signing in 2023.

 

The prime minister’s comments were translated from Japanese to English.

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Olivia Savage, Editor in Chief of Clarion Defence & Security
Benjamin Howe, Journalist, Clarion Defence & Security