Japan, Britain and Italy announced on Friday that they will jointly develop a sixth-generation fighter jet.

The jet, which is planned to incorporate up-to-date and effective air defence technologies, is expected to be ready by 2035. The project name has been determined as the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), and if the project is realized, it is expected to be the largest production ever developed within the scope of Japanese-European cooperation.

UK-based BAE Systems, Japan-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Italy-based Leonardo companies will take part in the production process of the GCAP project.

In the joint statement made by the three countries, it is stated that: ‘’The GCAP project will deepen our defence cooperation, science and technology cooperation, integrated supply chains and further strengthen the common defense industry base. The program will support the dominant capability of all three countries to design, deliver and upgrade their most advanced combat air capabilities for the future.’’

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphasized the vital importance of providing security for the UK with programs such as GCAP and said, “We need to stay at the cutting edge of defense technology developments by leaving behind those who want to harm us and maneuvering better than them. The international partnership we announced with Italy and Japan aims at just that and underlines the indivisible security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions.”