British, Italian and Japanese defense groups form joint venture to oversee fighter jet program

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Three defense leaders, Britain, Italy and Japan, have struck a deal to manage production of next-generation fighter jets as the three countries press ahead with ambitious plans to have the aircraft flying by 2035.

Under the agreement signed in London on Friday, three companies – Britain’s BAE System, Italy’s Leonardo and Japan’s Aircraft Industries Enhancement Corporation (JAIEC) – will each hold 33.3% of the new group, giving them an equal degree of influence over the project.

JAIEC was established this summer and is jointly funded by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Japan Aerospace Companies Association.

The new joint venture will be headquartered in the UK and will be responsible for the design, development and delivery of next-generation fighter aircraft under the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP). The industrial agreement follows the signing of a trilateral treaty between the three countries last year.

Launched in 2022, GCAP is one of the most ambitious military plans ever launched, aiming to expand countries’ defense capabilities to deal with growing security threats from Russia and China.

All three CEOs of the company welcomed the establishment of the company. BAE chief executive Charles Woodburn said it would “bring together the significant strengths and expertise of the companies involved”.

The agreement comes as government officials from the three countries have been discussing the idea of ​​including Saudi Arabia into the GCAP, despite strong opposition from Japan.

Riyadh has been urging Britain, Japan and Italy to allow it to become a formal partner of GCAP. However, people familiar with the discussions said the Gulf state could join as a “plus-one” partner, including purely financial participation and supplying early orders for fighter jets, rather than becoming a full-fledged player.

British Defense Secretary John Healy said earlier this month that Britain was willing to consider allowing Saudi Arabia to “develop links to join” the program. Healey said there had been “detailed discussions between the four countries for some time” but stressed that “more needs to be done”.

JAIEC staff member Hiroshi Umino said that the joint venture partners are currently studying the initial capital injection amount and number of personnel, but whether other countries will participate will be decided by the three governments.

He told the Financial Times: “We have come together as a company to get the decisions right and manage GCAP, which is a big step forward.”

Umino added that Japan decided to participate through JAIEC because the country has industrial expertise outside Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to contribute and intends to transfer technology acquired through the program to several companies.

The joint venture will subcontract the development and manufacturing of the aircraft to respective industrial partners in each country.

The exact distribution of design and development is still to be agreed, but will be divided equally among the three countries. The exact manufacturing allocation will be allocated later when more is known about the number of aircraft each country will purchase.

The partners aim to deliver the supersonic jet in about half the time and therefore at a lower cost than previous generation aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon. To meet the ambitious timeline, the three companies have been investing heavily in digital design and innovative engineering methods. Using digital modeling will help project engineers collaborate on designs and identify problems early.