Saudi Arabia likely to join GCAP jet fighter project, Italy says

FILE PHOTO: Attendees view the GCAP (Global Combat Air Programme) concept model fighter plane at the BAE Systems pavilion at the Farnborough International Airshow, in Farnborough, Britain, July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

ROME (Reuters) - A partnership involving Italy, Britain and Japan to build an advanced front-line fighter jet will likely be extended to Saudi Arabia, the Italian foreign minister said on Wednesday.

The three countries agreed in December 2022 on the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), the first major defence industry collaboration merging the separate next-generation fighter efforts of the countries.

"The deal we have with Britain and Japan ... I think will now be extended to Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.

Earlier this month, the three countries said they were discussing a broadening of the project, following a meeting in Brazil between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Japanese and British counterparts Shigeru Ishiba and Keir Starmer.

The partners aim to see the combat aircraft in flight around the middle of next decade. Firms including Leonardo, BAE Systems and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been involved in the project.

Reuters previously reported that Saudi Arabia was among the candidates to become a junior partner in the GCAP, as it would bring money and a lucrative market to a project expected to cost tens of billions of dollars.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Alexander Smith)