Britain will spend £8.6 billion over the next four years on the Global Combat Air Programme, the next-generation fighter being developed with Japan and Italy, the Ministry of Defence confirmed as it set out the Defence Investment Plan.
Officials said the funding, set out in the plan published on Tuesday, would carry the programme through its concept and design phases and described it as a key priority for the department, and Sir Keir Starmer confirmed it as he launched the plan, saying the government was renewing its commitment to build “Tempest fighter jets” under the £8.6 billion investment with Italy and Japan, an effort he described as developing “sixth generation stealth fighters that will secure our skies for decades to come” and rebuilding the foundations of a sovereign British aircraft industry.
The aircraft, which Britain has pursued under the Tempest banner, is intended to replace the Typhoon in RAF service and to enter service in the second half of the 2030s, and the Defence Investment Plan also commits the department to upgrading the Typhoon into the 2040s as a means of bridging the years until the new fighter arrives, with officials saying the older jet would remain the backbone of UK air defence for some time yet, while GCAP itself is being designed to operate alongside uncrewed systems and the plan separately funds a collaborative combat air programme to develop the autonomous jets that would fly with crewed aircraft.
The £8.6 billion commitment is among the largest single figures anywhere in the plan and reads as a clear vote of confidence in a programme that already supports thousands of jobs across the British aerospace sector, with Japan and Italy carrying their own parallel investments, though efforts of this kind come with well-rehearsed risks of scale and schedule attached, since rival sixth-generation fighter projects elsewhere have slipped their timelines and grown their budgets, and the money announced here covers only the next four years rather than the full life of the programme, which leaves the later and far costlier phases to be settled by future spending decisions.
Officials nonetheless presented the investment as proof that combat air remains central to the UK’s plans even as a great deal of money is shifting towards drones and autonomy.
Good – the jet has huge export potential IF governments avoid the mistakes of the past, not to mention the capability upgrades, the skills & knowledge created and retained in the UK.
Agreed, with the collapse of its only non US competitor if this is managed properly (yeah I know, I know 🤣) there should be significant sales opportunity.
I doubt if Dassault think anything has collapsed.
I think they’ll miss the German funding
doubt that very much, french Senate just approved two supplemental defense budgets of €50 billion (€36 billion followed by €14 billion
I don’t think many people will be buying £200 million regional bombers from us.
It’s got as much export potential as TSR2.
Anyone who will buy it will want work share.
We are paying £16 billion+ in development for a third share on an aircraft we don’t really need.
And so speaks Labour Central. Complete with inaccurate and misleading info.
I wonder what the party view is on buying F-35A’s for nuclear bombing.
I would argue we do need a capable long range door kicker Jim, its affordability of course remains to be seen.
What a fcuking usless comment – havent you got anything sensible to say
Pot Kettle !
What are you on about Jimbo ? Remember the Tornado was a result of collaboration and it proved successful just like the Eurofighter so why would this venture not yield a similar result?
This is welcome news for the U.K. aviation industry which we cannot afford to see fail
The TSR2 would have been bought by Australia if Labour hadn’t cancelled it.
I disagree entirely with that Jim.
It’s a potential gold mine for the UK and partners, It’s whether the Government will make the most of It’s potential that Is the main worry.
I’m sure japan, and alot us can breathe a sigh of relief.
Thank heaven for that, shouldn’t have needed a DIP to confirm the investment mind which has annoyed our partners somewhat. This is despite the idiots at the Telegraph et al (rapidly becoming US tools of disinformation thanks to its online advertising) a no brainer. Never has such an opportunity existed to create not just a technological success but a commercial one too thanks to focus, World events and rival’s missteps, be it the transactional restrictive nature of US politics or the infighting that’s brought down the FCAS. All manner of increased sales and tier Two opportunities have developed as a result. US behaviour and the limitations of the F-35 both aircraft and programme has pretty much destroyed the inherent advantage US programmes have held since the war on aircraft sales and with no FCAS to fight for World markets the potential here is well out of this World as long as we continue to manage it sensibly and don’t own goal it. Canada is on the brink of requesting observer status and many more will no doubt join in at that level or express interest as time passes, especially once the test aircraft flies and hopefully becomes proof of concept in design and technology development. Equally important if it does meet that full potential it could tie in markets for future projects, something we so badly failed to do historically and leading eventually to so many failed businesses and lost opportunities. If we can sustain this in the air and with naval ships we can perhaps feel less bad about failures to do so on land systems, perhaps even use it to re-generate opportunities there too eventually.
Its a relief, it really is, I suspect the amount actually required will be closer to $16 billion in the long term, but thank god the starter pistol has finally been fired!
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the RAF will be very happy, GCAP go ahead and its preferred option, the F35A ordered too.
I suspect the tranche of 12, will only be the first, as the RAF build a next gen high tech fleet of heavy and medium fighters, with loyal wingmen, to replace Thypoon by 2040 ish.
F35 A is cheap aswell. What 80 million or so and Tyhoons like 80-100m. New Tyhoons dont make sense, UNLESS they are ONLY for QRA which would make sense even up to 2050 etc
These new F35s should be hear by what 2032? We wont be able to order any more than 2 squadrons worth by the time Tempest comes
Mehh
@ John Clark
Can’t you even spell properly? it’s TYPHOON, idiot
A number of thoughts here. Firstly, costs need to be managed – no expensive compromises if everyone wants something different! Secondly, it needs to be set up from the beginning to carry all the European/Japanese missiles – with US missiles as an after thought or for export markets. Those weapons would ideally include any nuclear bombs/missiles that we develop or buy in. Thirdly, it needs to enter service as quickly as possible with no delays.
I hope it’s worth it. That £8.6bn could more than double the size of the UK’s F35 fleet.
The UK’s share of the total development costs, £16bn (so I hear), could buy 150+ F35s. Not to mention the actual capital costs.
Don’t forget to subtract UK exports from your costs. UK’s share of overseas sales of Typhoon, even though not generally seen as a great export success, are nevertheless £22.5bn over the last 20 years. The reason we also get significant sales value from the F-35 programme and the Gripen is because of UK expertise, which you only get from doing.
good- get it pushed through to completion- this has the potential to be an industrial capacity boom and absolute world-wide best seller- as long as capability is matched by actual numbers in service- which will be determined by costs per airframe- if the defence companies get greedy it will fail.
Tempest is big, very very big, think F-111/F-14 sized big.
Have you got the specs please, I’d love to see them ?