UK, Italy and Japan sign £4.6bn Edgewing contract for next-generation GCAP fighter

The Global Combat Air Programme has taken a major step forward after the UK, Italy and Japan signed a £4.6 billion contract to advance the design of their future sixth-generation fighter aircraft.

The contract has been awarded by the GCAP Agency to Edgewing, the trinational industrial joint venture created to lead design and development of the aircraft. It marks the second joint international contract placed with Edgewing, following an initial £686 million award in April.

GCAP is intended to deliver a next-generation combat aircraft for service from 2035, replacing or complementing existing combat air fleets and forming part of a wider future air system built around sensors, data, digital engineering and autonomous support.

Sixth-generation GCAP fighter design advances

The Ministry of Defence said the new contract will move the aircraft into its next design phase, establishing key requirements and supporting rigorous testing.

Leonardo said the 18-month contract will enable completion of the advanced concept and assessment phase of the programme, as well as further joint detailed design and development.

The aircraft is being developed to operate alongside Typhoon, F-35 and autonomous systems as part of a future Royal Air Force. The UK Government said it will use complex digital engineering, AI and advanced technologies to become the most advanced fighter jet flown by the RAF.

Edgewing brings together BAE Systems, Leonardo and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co Ltd, giving GCAP a single trinational industrial structure. The company is headquartered in Reading, with operations across the three partner nations.

Masami Oka, chief executive of the GCAP Agency, said the contract would allow the agency and Edgewing to “continue making huge progress in all areas of delivery”, while Edgewing chief executive Marco Zoff described the model as the first time three countries had come together to create “a single engineering prime” with a single empowered customer.

GCAP sits at the heart of UK combat air plans

The contract follows confirmation in the Defence Investment Plan that £8.6 billion will be invested in GCAP over the next four years.

The programme already supports around 4,500 jobs across the UK and involves a supply chain of approximately 600 organisations. The MoD said it is delivering advances in digital engineering and manufacturing, including AI, robotics, augmented reality and additive manufacturing.

GCAP also sits within a broader combat air investment package. The Defence Investment Plan includes more than £1.1 billion to upgrade and sustain the Typhoon force into the 2040s, £2.2 billion for additional F-35s and £300 million to begin developing a new UK autonomous combat aircraft.

That investment points to the shape of the future RAF: a force built not around one aircraft type, but around crewed fighters, uncrewed systems, data sharing and combat networks.

The £4.6 billion contract does not deliver the final aircraft, but it does move GCAP from political commitment into deeper engineering activity. With the 2035 target still less than a decade away, the pressure now shifts to turning a tri-national ambition into a credible aircraft programme.

Featured image: Leonardo