UK Ministry of Defence boosts funding for future fighter jet program
NewsApril 14, 2023
LONDON, United Kingdom. The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has allocated more than £650 million to further the development of the next-generation fighter jet as part of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), according to an MOD statement. This initiative is a trilateral collaboration with Japan and Italy, which aims to have the aircraft in service by 2035 to maintain the UK Armed Forces' advantage over adversaries.
BAE Systems will advance the design and development of the aircraft, which is known as Tempest. The MOD and their GCAP counterparts in Japan and Italy are working on progressing the maturity of digital concepts and new technologies for the aircraft, the MOD says.
The aircraft is designed to be an innovative stealth fighter with supersonic capabilities along with advanced sensing and protection technology as developers aim to make it an interoperable, adaptable, and highly connected fighter jet, the statement reads.
The new investment is part of the UK government's commitment to spend more than £2 billion on the project by May 2025.
