The three lead companies representing the trilateral GCAP programme released new concept design imagery at the Farnborough International Airshow 2024, reflecting an emphasis on greater range, speed, and payload than previously released concepts. (BAE Systems)
The trilateral Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) is “proceeding at pace” to the full development and design phase that is due to be launched in 2025, senior programme leaders said on 22 July.
Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow 2024, which runs from 22 to 26 July outside London in the United Kingdom, industrial leaders from the three national primes of Leonardo for Italy, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for Japan, and BAE Systems for the UK said that with the current concepting and assessment phase due to be completed in the coming months, the programme is on track to commence the next phase that will run through to entry into service in 2035.
“We are heading towards 2025 at pace,” Herman Claesen, managing director, Future Combat Air Systems, for lead UK company on the project BAE Systems, said. “In readiness for 2025 to take on the international design and development contract, we have been working at phenomenal pace, and the key message is that pace has continued absolutely since the last time we got together [at Farnborough 2022], whether it is from a government point of view or whether it's from an industry point of view.”
Claesen, along with his Italian compatriot Guglielmo Maviglia, chief GCAP officer at Leonardo, and his Japanese compatriot Hitoshi Shiraishi, senior fellow, GCAP, MHI, noted the importance of the upcoming full development and design phase in the context of developing the next generation of air power for all three partner countries over the coming decades.
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