BELFAST — The international joint venture Edgewing has been awarded its first Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) design and development contract, valued at £686 million ($905 million).
The GCAP Agency, which manages the multibillion dollar flagship project on behalf of the UK, Italy and Japan, issued the contract on Wednesday. It runs until June 2026. Mirroring GCAP’s national sponsors, Edgewing is comprised of England’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo, and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd. (JAIEC).
The new funding invests in “key design and engineering activities and enables the trilateral partnership to build momentum and accelerate pace of delivery,” noted Edgewing in a statement. Going forward, industrial activities that were once worked on via three individual national contracts will be pursued “as part of a fully-fledged international programme,” said Masami Oka, GCAP Agency chief executive.
From a programmatic perspective, the GCAP Agency and Edgewing plan on signing a full international contract “in due course,” said a spokesperson for the agency in a statement to Breaking Defense.
GCAP is slated to deliver a future fighter jet into service in 2035 to replace British and Italian Eurofighter Typhoon fourth-generation combat aircraft and Japanese F-2 multi-role planes. Beyond the fighter, a large portion of the GCAP project includes a family-of-systems approach, including next-gen unmanned platforms designed to fly alongside the new jet as drone wingmen.
The Financial Times reported in March that Japan was “growing increasingly doubtful” about Britain’s commitment to GCAP, amid delays with the European nation’s long-awaited defense investment plan, which the business outlet said was holding up the signing of the design contract.
Edgewing is principally responsible for overseeing GCAP’s design and development, but the latest contractual development comes after several other industry groups have been named for separate tasks.
Under a “Team Tempest” initiative, industry partners BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and MBDA UK are on the hook for producing the Combat Air Flying Demonstrator (CAFD) — a crewed, supersonic and low observable aircraft — within two years.
In a bid to deliver sensor and communication systems, GCAP Electronics Evolution (G2E) was stood up last year and comprises Leonardo UK, Leonardo Italy, ELT Group, alongside Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric.
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In September, an industrial team behind GCAP’s engine program, involving Avio Aero (Italy), IHI (Japan) and Rolls-Royce also announced a “major” partnership expansion to accelerate the pace of the next generation fighter’s power and propulsion.
Other nations, including Poland and Saudi Arabia, have expressed an interest in joining GCAP in some capacity but no binding commitments have been made.
On Tuesday during a parliamentary exchange, Luke Pollard, UK minister for defence readiness said, “We remain open to others joining GCAP. However, the UK and GCAP partners, Italy and Japan, are focused on delivering this vital military capability at pace.”
