Japanese, British, Italian Defense Ministers Discuss Fighter Jet Project; All Agree on Accelerating Development through Design and Management Entity Cooperation

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:56 JST, July 8, 2025

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on Monday held a trilateral videoconference with British Secretary of State for Defence John Healey and Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, in which they all affirmed that their three countries will work together to advance the development of a next-generation fighter jet.

Japan, Britain and Italy have all contributed capital to this project, and on June 20 they established Edgewing, a joint venture which will be responsible for designing the fighter, among other tasks.

The three ministers also agreed that the work needs to be expedited, and so contracts will be concluded by the end of the year between Edgewing and the GCAP (Global Combat Air Program) International Government Organization (GIGO), an intergovernmental entity for managing the joint development project. Having these two bodies link up is expected to simplify the joint development process.