A repeat star of the Farnborough air show is back in new-look guise, as the three-nation Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) continues its progress towards service entry in 2035.
Being advanced by Italy, Japan and the UK, the GCAP effort seeks to deliver a “sixth-generation” fighter and supporting elements including unmanned remote carrier vehicles, advanced precision-guided weapons and a combat cloud network.
“The new concept model features a much more evolved design with a wingspan larger than previous concepts to improve the aerodynamics of the future combat aircraft,” says GCAP industry partner BAE Systems. Its original Tempest full-scale replica was unveiled at Farnborough in July 2018.
The UK company – which is jointly exhibiting the model with GCAP industry partners Leonardo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) – “will showcase the significant strides they are making to progress the delivery of a truly next-generation combat aircraft”, it says.
Herman Claesen, BAE’s managing director, Future Combat Air Systems, says the updated look “shows notable progress in the design and concepting of this future fighter”. He adds: “We will continue to test and evolve the design as we move closer towards the next phase of the programme.”
“Since the [GCAP] treaty was signed in December 2023, the programme has seen strong commitment from each partner,” says Leonardo chief GCAP officer Guglielmo Maviglia.
“MHI considers any project to be a valuable opportunity to deepen our knowledge,” says Hitoshi Shiraishi, its senior fellow, GCAP. “We expect to obtain better results and deeper knowledge than ever before by combining the different cultures, experiences and knowledge of the three industries involved.”
Noting that the development programme is “hugely significant for the security, political and economic prosperity of each nation”, BAE notes that it will employ “tens of thousands of skilled people across the UK, Italy and Japan, growing industrial skills and technologies for the future”.
The GCAP venture is currently in its concept phase, with a so-called outline business case 2 proposal due to be submitted to the partner nations late this year.
It is unclear whether this schedule could be affected by a Strategic Defence and Security Review activity to be undertaken by the UK’s new Labour government, which will publish its priorities for the nation’s armed forces during 2025.
