The three nations involved in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) have reaffirmed their commitment to stand up a joint organisation by year-end, as industry partners work towards a parallel joint-venture arrangement.
The defence ministers of Italy, Japan, and the UK discussed GCAP for 45min at a broader meeting of G7 defence ministers in Naples, according to the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
“Representatives of the GCAP industry partners reported to the three ministers at the meeting that they have made substantial progress towards reaching an agreement on a proposed joint venture as a [GCAP intergovernmental organisation] counterpart,” says the ministry.
“The [intergovernmental organisation] and the proposed joint venture are the two vital instruments to run the GCAP, and now that both of their start-ups are in sight, the three ministers concurred on the acceleration of the preparatory work required to conclude the initial contract between the two entities by the end of next year.”
The three primary industrial partners for GCAP are Italy’s Leonardo, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and the UK’s BAE Systems.
During a recent meeting with FlightGlobal, representatives of Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) declined to be drawn on the specific GCAP workshare between the three partners, only saying that discussions are under way.
They observed that the high cost and complexity of the programme makes it imperative for Japan to work with overseas partners. Moreover, they said that Japan stands to make a strong contribution given its extensive research and development into advanced technologies, exemplified by the MHI X-2 Shinshin flight demonstrator and IHI’s XF9 experimental fighter engine, as well as Japan’s research in other areas.
At the recent Japan Aerospace show in Tokyo, a standalone GCAP stand was attached to that of BAE.
John Stocker, business development director of Future Combat Air Systems at BAE, says that “really good progress” has been made in early design work. Within BAE there is considerable work under way to determine the technologies that will deliver for GCAP, and to “strike out” those that will not.
Artificial intelligence is a key focus. “AI is an important part of what we’re doing,” says Stocker.
“The data that will be generated, consumed, and analysed by these next generation platforms such as this will be absolutely, vastly more than anything that’s been done before. So how do you deal with a that level of information?”
He adds that the partnership brings together “credible, capable” participants where everyone can contribute.
The formation of a joint venture, which will have operations in all three partner countries, will see intellectual property from the participants brought together.
“We’re not in a position just yet to make announcements in terms of exactly how and when that’s happening, but we’re making great progress on that front,” adds Stocker.
