Britain, Japan, and Italy have signed an international treaty to establish a program aimed at developing an advanced fighter jet, the three nations’ defense ministers announced on Thursday.
The parliaments of each country must ratify the agreement, which aims to see the combat aircraft in flight by 2035. The joint development phase of the programme will begin in 2025.
Both the joint government headquarters of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and its industry counterpart will be based in Britain.
The government organisation’s first chief executive will come from Japan, while the first leader of the business organisation will be from Italy, according to the announcement.
The supersonic stealth jet will feature a radar that can provide 10,000 times more data than current systems, the British government has said.
