U.K, Japan, Italy seek to hasten next-gen fighter jet roll out

WARTON, U.K. -- The U.K. is in talks with Japan and Italy about jointly developing a next-generation fighter jet demonstrator by 2027, the British Defence Ministry and local industry partners said on Tuesday.

This could mean closer collaboration sooner between the three nations that only six months ago agreed to merge their existing programs to collaborate on a next-generation combat aircraft for delivery by 2035, in a project called the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). BAE Systems is one of the main industrial partners of the project, along with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Leonardo of Italy.

Speaking at a media event at a new facility at the BAE Systems site in Warton, northwest England, Martin Lowe, the Defence Ministry's director of future combat air system program, said that while the U.K. did not currently have any partners in the development of the demonstrator, "we're having discussions with Italy and Japan about exactly that."

Reporters were invited to look inside the hangar housing a simulator system that the U.K. has developed as part of the demonstrator. In a glimpse of what could be used in the GCAP fighter jet, the flight simulator was wired up to a hydraulics system that was created to represent half the aircraft, as well as a digital coding system that can read and predict how the aircraft will react and how the systems will respond to flight control. Test pilots have completed around 170 hours of flights in the simulator.

Officials revealed for the first time the kind of testing conducted -- fast jet crew ejection and aerodynamics of the engine system. While these elements may not be directly reflected in the GCAP fighter jet, the processes were run now to develop the testing processes and remove risks of delay and cost overruns.

The demonstrator, when it is completed in 2027, will be fitted with two Eurojet EJ200 engines, a model used in the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Crew ejection testing. (Courtesy of BAE Systems)

The U.K. had been working on developing a supersonic stealth jet since 2018 under "Team Tempest" with BAE Systems, Leonardo U.K., missile system developer MBDA U.K., Rolls-Royce and the U.K. Defence Ministry. Last year, they said they would fly a demonstrator of the aircraft within five years.

Pointing out that Japan had, together with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, already built a demonstrator called Mitsubishi X-2 Shinshin which took its first flight in 2016, BAE Systems Tempest Program Director Neil Strang said, "If there are opportunities to leverage some of that learning experience, why would you not?"

He added they are talking to both Italy and Japan, "making them feel very part of the demonstrator to see what role could they play, but discussions are ongoing." He also said that successfully building a flying demonstrator is a "key foundational pillar" for 2035 delivery of the GCAP fighter.

The GCAP is billed as "bridging Europe and the Pacific," and the partners are currently assessing costs, cost-sharing arrangements, capabilities and export potential among other aspects. They are expected to begin the development phase of the aircraft in 2025.

The ambitious timeline for a project of this scale has been questioned by some, but the British industrial partners were keen to stress that digital systems are accelerating the process and the demonstrator is the best way to maximize output and cut risks.

Rolls-Royce Defence Future Programmes Chief Engineer Conrad Banks said demonstrators act as catalysts that "enable us to validate a whole suite of models which can then be exploited to optimize [the] product in 2035."

Strang also said the digital systems they are working with gives them confidence about the production timeline.

"The digital modeling that we're doing and the digital integrated modeling we're doing is actually having the effect of enabling us to understand better those risks earlier, much earlier than any other program we've done so far," he said.

The U.K. is due to hold general elections by January 2025 and current polls suggest that the ruling Conservative Party will lose power to the Labour Party. The industrial partners, however, remain confident of any government's commitment to developing a future combat air system.

"From a political perspective, I think we'll get just as much support whichever way the general election goes next year," Banks said.