In their first-ever trilateral military initiative, the UK, Japan, and Italy have agreed to jointly create one of the world's most powerful fighter jets by 2035 in response to rising security concerns from China and Russia.
The Global Combat Air Programme is being built alongside a competing Franco-German-Spanish initiative, which has been dogged by political and industrial conflicts among the participants.
On Friday, the United Kingdom and Italy reached an agreement to combine their separate Future Combat Air programme, known as Tempest, with Japan's F-X project. The three countries will divide up the development costs, which are expected to run into the tens of billions of dollars. However, the exact amounts each country will contribute will be determined after a thorough evaluation of the associated expenses and available funds.
The leaders of the three countries said in a joint statement, "By working together in a spirit of equitable cooperation, we are sharing the expenses and rewards of this investment in our people and technologies." For the foreseeable future, "importantly, the initiative will support the sovereign capability of all three countries to design, produce, and upgrade cutting-edge combat air assets."
The arrangement, which took years to negotiate, is a historic first for Japan. It has traditionally relied solely on the United States for major military weapons, but in light of the danger of war with China over Taiwan, it has sought closer security connections with a variety of allies.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced this week that the government plans to set up 43tn ($315bn) for its five-year defense budget, an increase of 57% over the previous period, and the fighter jet is a key part of Japan's rising defense goals.
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