UK, December 14. Global leader Rolls-Royce has welcomed the signing of the Convention of the Establishment of the “Global Combat Air Programme – GCAP International Government Organisation (the GIGO)” by the Italian, Japanese and UK governments.
Ministers from Italy, Japan and UK signed the treaty, which marks an important agreement in the shared design and delivery of a next generation fighter aircraft by 2035. The agreement, signed just 12 months since the formation of the GCAP programme, reinforces its momentum and the strong trilateral cooperation amongst the partners.
This combat air aircraft, due to take to the skies by 2035, aims to harness next-generation technologies and become one of the world’s most advanced, interoperable, adaptable and connected fighter jets in service globally.
The UK industry partners who form Team Tempest – Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, Leonardo, MDBA and the UK Ministry of Defence – have already generated strong working relationships with their counterparts in Italy and Japan to progress the design and development of this aircraft.
Rolls-Royce Director Business Development and Future Programmes UK & International Alex Zino said: “Today’s treaty announcement marks the latest milestone accomplished on a path to deliver the Global Combat Air Programme by 2035.
“It’s a clear demonstration of the close collaboration that has formed between the partners and reinforces our shared ambition to provide a truly next generation capability to our customer.
“Rolls-Royce, together with international colleagues IHI Corporation of Japan and Avio Aero of Italy are proud to be integral partners in these developments.
“For us in Bristol, this means sustaining and evolving our long history of delivering power and propulsion systems for some of the most successful combat aircraft in history. The skills and culture we’re establishing through GCAP will support rewarding high-quality careers for decades into the future.”
Today’s GCAP announcement also confirmed the joint GCAP government headquarters will be hosted in the UK and the first CEO will come from Japan. In addition, the future business construct will also be headquartered in the UK and the first leader will be from Japan.
GCAP is a hugely significant programme for the security, political and economic prosperity for Italy, Japan and UK and through effective knowledge and technology transfer will help to evolve and deliver important sovereign combat air capability in each nation for generations to come.
Today, there are around 9000 people working on GCAP worldwide and more than 1000 suppliers across the partner nations.
