Japan signs pact to build stealth jet with UK and Italy in its first major military tie-up beyond US since WWII

The planned aircraft, which combines the European Tempest and Japanese F-X projects, is expected to be in service by 2035
Japan is diversifying its military partnerships as its traditional ally, the US, has been reluctant to share technology

Japan

Bloomberg

Published: 3:31pm, 14 Dec 2023

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Japan, Britain, and Italy signed a treaty in Tokyo on Thursday to crystallise their joint plan to develop a stealth fighter jet, as the nations look to bolster their security ties amid threats from the likes of an assertive China.

As part of their Global Combat Air Programme, the three nations aim to develop a stealth warplane fitted with cutting-edge technology, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an emailed statement ahead of the signing.

The planned new aircraft – known as Tempest in the UK – effectively combines the European Tempest and Japanese F-X projects, both of which had been in the pipeline for years.

The plan is for the programme “to be crucial to global security and we continue to make hugely positive progress toward delivery of the new jets to our respective air forces in 2035,” UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in the statement.

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The deal comes a year after the countries agreed to merge their plans to develop next-generation fighter jets, and it is a display of the sort of partnerships the British government is trying to strike up after leaving the European Union.

For Japan, it marks the first time since World War II that it has looked beyond the US for a major military partnership, spurred partly by American reluctance to share technology.

Shapps met his Japanese and Italian counterparts, Minoru Kihara and Guido Crosetto, in Tokyo, and the deal the three nations signed is still subject to ratification by parliaments in the three nations.

Britain’s Defence Minister Grant Shapps (right), Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto (left) and Japanese Defence Minister Minoru Kihara (centre) shake hands before a trilateral meeting in Tokyo on Thursday. Photo: AP

“As we face the most complex security environment since World War II … securing aerial superiority continues to be a crucial challenge that we must achieve,” said Kihara.

As part of the agreement, the programme headquarters would be sited in Britain, with the first chief executive officer coming from Japan.

Fighters are among the most costly of defence projects with time-frames running to decades and budgets into hundreds of billions of dollars, so adding Japanese financial clout to European know-how honed on a succession of jets culminating in the Eurofighter represents a major step forward in developing the plane.

Then British defence minister Gavin Williamson looked at a model of a jet fighter called “Tempest” in 2018. The new jet to be built by the UK, Italy and Japan will combine the “Tempest” and Japan’s F-X projects. Photo: Reuters

The new programme will include capabilities such as uncrewed aircraft, advanced sensors and cutting-edge weapons, with the three countries working to reach the development phase of the project in 2025, and have the warplane in service by 2035.

London-based BAE Systems Plc, Europe’s biggest defence company, and Italy’s Leonardo SpA – partners on the Eurofighter Typhoon and Tempest – will work with F-X lead contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd to take the project forward.

Additional reporting by Reuters