The US Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter is steadily making progress. As the service’s sixth-generation platforms become less of a concept and more of a reality, other nations are also working to simultaneously field their own futuristic fighter programs. Specifically, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Italy are collaborating on a sixth-gen replacement for the Eurofighter Typhoon and Mitsubishi F-2. According to Italian Air Force gen. Giandomenico Taricco, the joint “GCAP” jet is expected to work in tandem with the US-made F-47 and not as a competitor. “What we want is for the GCAP to be interoperable with the F-47, to make them two elements in an integrated system,” said Taricco, adding that “The F-47 will be principally a U.S. fighter and not a competitor to the GCAP.”

What We Know About GCAP

The collaborative effort to field GCAP was formalized in 2023, when the UK’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo, and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries penned a joint declaration to field the new platform. The massive undertaking........

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