GCAP’s designers envision the sixth-generation fighter to operate alongside a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles.
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 between the three nations involved thousands of people working on the program across the globe. The GCAP demonstrator is expected to embark on its maiden flight by the end of the decade, followed by production aircraft to commence entering service by 2035. According to reports, GCAP’s designers envision the sixth-generation fighter to operate alongside a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). However, work in this arena has yet to be undertaken.
Last month, the GCAP endeavor reached a new milestone. The director for Future Combat Air at Leonardo UK revealed that the platform’s partners should expect contracts by the end of 2025. Leonardo Electrics Italy, ELT Group, Mitsubishi Electric, and Leonardo UK have been tasked with delivering the Integrated Sensing and Non-Kinetic Effects and Integrated Communications System package for the fighter.
How Does NGAD Compare?
The US Air Force’s NGAD program appears to be further along in the conception phase than its GCAP counterpart, although it’s difficult to verify exactly where both projects are on their respective trajectories. Earlier this year, proposed engines from GE Aerospace and RTX’s Pratt & Whitney were given the green light to move forward to the engine prototype construction phase. In a press release, GE noted that the completion of the design review “marks a significant step toward delivering revolutionary propulsion technology for the Air Force’s future fleet,” adding that in its design presentation to the service, it displayed “the comprehensive digital engine model and [validated] its readiness for the next stage of development.”
NGAD is being designed to serve as a “family of systems” for the Air Force. The upcoming program is derived from DARPA’s Air Dominance study and will feature a litany of advanced technologies that will make the platform superior in terms of stealth, propulsion, and ordnance power. A host of Collaborative Combat Aircraft will fly alongside the series as loyal wingmen drones. These highly autonomous UAVs will give NGAD an edge by providing a more survivable and cheaper component to the platform.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
Image: DVIDS.
