London/IBNS: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has given his approval for the worlds second 6th-generation fully-stealth fighter aircraft built for the strategically important project that is being co-developed by G7 member states – UK, Italy, and Japan.
The approval from Starmer came last week.
Prime Minister Starmer and his cabinet gave their nod for the Global Combat Aircraft Programme (GCAP), and a formal announcement of the project is likely in the next few weeks, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The GCAP programme is being developed to counter a rising threat from Russia and China.
The project will merge two different military programs – UK and Italys Tempest Project, for which the UK had already pledged the initial 2-billion-pounds, and Japans F-X programme, NDTV reported.
In December last year, Italy, Japan, and the UK signed a treaty in December but there was uncertainty over the UKs participation owing to the Labour Partys Strategic Defence Review that had the potential to scrap the countrys participation on grounds of high costs.
However, with Prime Minister Starmers go-ahead, the project received a major boost.
The aircraft is being jointly developed by British aircraft manufacturer BAE Systems, engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, Italys Leonardo Aerospace, and Japans Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
UK is a proud member of the Global Combat Air Programme, working together with our partners Japan and Italy, we are fully focused on delivering a next-generation combat aircraft for 2035, UKs Defence Ministry said.
