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- Britain, Japan and Italy signed an international treaty last year to set up the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP)
FARNBOROUGH, England: Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday stressed the importance of Britain鈥檚 fighter jet capability, but stopped short of guaranteeing its next generation combat air program with Japan and Italy would not be affected by a defense policy review.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important for me to put on record just how important a program this is,鈥� Starmer said at the opening day of the Farnborough Airshow on Monday.
Britain, Japan and Italy signed an international treaty last year to set up the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) 鈥� merging their separate next-generation fighter efforts and aiming for a new aircraft to enter service by 2035.
But there has been speculation that Starmer鈥檚 new Labour government might downgrade or scrap the program after it launched a defense review, which will report next year.
Starmer noted the review, but said GCAP, also known as Tempest in Britain, was making 鈥渟ignificant progress.鈥�
鈥淚t is an important program and I know that people in the room will want to hear me say that,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he defense secretary is holding a ministerial level meeting (...) in relation to this because of the significant benefits here in this country.鈥�
Britain鈥檚 biggest defense company BAE Systems and aero-engineer Rolls-Royce are working on the multibillion-pound project alongside Italy鈥檚 Leonardo and Japan鈥檚 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Herman Claesen, BAE鈥檚 managing director for the project, said the partners were working 鈥渁t pace鈥� toward the launch of international design and development next year.
He said progress on the 鈥渋ndustrial construct鈥� for developing the platform was good. 鈥淲e are nearing completion on the activities on that one too in readiness for 2025,鈥� he told reporters.
The program could be opened up to others at a later stage, Italy鈥檚 defense minister said in January, with the likes of 抖阴短视频 possible contenders to join the project.
Leonardo鈥檚 GCAP chief Guglielmo Maviglia said expanding the partnership to 抖阴短视频 was matter for the governments involved.
鈥淲hat we can say is that we are developing a construct that is able and is open for other partners,鈥� he said. 鈥淧artners are important because of course the export market is relevant for the business case.鈥�