Money starts flowing for new GCAP fighter, as Britain sorts out finances

ROME — Italy, Japan and the U.K. have signed a stopgap contract to keep work going on their joint GCAP fighter program for three months, giving the U.K. time to free up more funding.

The joint program office created by the three nations announced the signing of a £686 million ($906 million) development contract on Thursday with Edgewing, the joint venture set up to develop the sixth-generation jet by local champions BAE Systems, Leonardo, and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd. (JAIEC).

“The £686 million contract invests in key design and engineering activities and enables the trilateral partnership to build momentum and accelerate pace of delivery,” the tri-government GCAP agency said.

Edgewing’s first contract follows growing concern over delays in funding caused by ongoing uncertainty over the U.K.’s Defense Investment Plan, which was due to contain GCAP cash.

The plan was due to be completed last year, but has yet to be published amid a public spending crunch and a reported £28 billion funding gap in the U.K. defense budget.

That has left programs like GCAP under a cloud since the first contract with Edgewing was due to be signed off last year. Japanese officials have said they are worried GCAP delivery will be pushed beyond the scheduled date in 2035.

A source on the program told Defense News the new contract is a “bridge” allowing work to continue until the end of June, when it is hoped the U.K. spending plan will be complete and a second, larger contract can be signed.

“Today’s contract is tri-national, with the U.K. contributing, and designed to keep the program on schedule,” said the source.

Ahead of the completion of the Defense Investment Plan, the U.K. last month handed Leonardo a £1 billion contract to build 23 AW149 helicopters at the firm’s Yeovil plant in the U.K. to ward off closure of the plant.

Referring to the Edgewing deal, a spokesman for the joint venture said, “With the signing of this international contract, Edgewing is now fully empowered to drive the program forward as its industrial lead. Our priority is to ensure that engineering work continues to meet planned milestones and the business continues to ramp-up according to our projections.”

To date Italy, the U.K. and Japan have created separate funding for the program. The new contract is the first time they have signed a single contract with Edgewing.

“This is the first time in history that responsibility for the technical design and development of a combat aircraft program has been fully vested in a new international prime contractor, and we are making every effort to live up to this responsibility.” said the Edgewing spokesman.

Masami Oka, GCAP Agency Chief Executive said, “This contract is an important moment for GCAP, as activities previously conducted under three nations’ contracts will now be carried out as part of a fully-fledged international program.”

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——意大利、日本和英国签署了一份临时合同，以维持其联合GCAP战斗机项目的工作三个月，让英国有时间腾出更多资金。

由三国共同成立的联合项目办公室周四宣布与 Edgewing 签署了一份价值 6.86 亿英镑（9.06 亿美元）的开发合同。Edgewing 是由当地龙头企业 BAE Systems、Leonardo 和日本飞机工业增强有限公司 (JAIEC) 成立的合资企业，旨在开发第六代喷气式飞机。

“这份价值 6.86 亿英镑的合同将投资于关键的设计和工程活动，使三方合作伙伴关系能够建立势头并加快交付速度，”三国政府联合机构 GCAP 表示。

Edgewing 的首份合同是在人们越来越担心英国国防投资计划（该计划原本应包含 GCAP 资金）的资金延迟到位之后签订的。

该计划原定于去年完成，但由于公共支出紧缩以及据报道英国国防预算存在 280 亿英镑的资金缺口，该计划至今尚未公布。

自去年与Edgewing公司签订的首份合同本应签署以来，GCAP等项目一直笼罩在阴影之下。日本官员表示，他们担心GCAP的交付日期会推迟到2035年之后。

该项目的一位消息人士告诉《防务新闻》，这份新合同是一个“过渡合同”，允许工作继续进行到 6 月底，届时英国的支出计划有望完成，并可以签署第二份更大的合同。

消息人士称：“今天的合同是三国合作的，英国也参与其中，旨在确保项目按计划进行。”

在国防投资计划完成之前，英国上个月授予莱昂纳多公司一份价值 10 亿英镑的合同，在该公司位于英国约维尔的工厂建造 23 架 AW149 直升机，以避免该工厂关闭。

谈到与Edgewing的交易，合资企业的一位发言人表示：“随着这份国际合同的签署，Edgewing现在完全有权作为工业牵头方推进该项目。我们的首要任务是确保工程工作继续按计划完成，并确保业务按照我们的预期持续增长。”

迄今为止，意大利、英国和日本都为该项目分别设立了专项资金。这份新合同是他们首次与Edgewing公司签署单一合同。

“这是历史上第一次将战斗机项目的技术设计和开发责任完全交给一家新的国际主承包商，我们正在尽一切努力履行这一责任。” Edgewing 发言人表示。

GCAP 机构首席执行官冈正美表示：“这份合同对 GCAP 来说是一个重要的时刻，因为以前在三个国家的合同下开展的活动现在将作为一项成熟的国际计划的一部分来实施。”

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。