Italy advocates for Germany's participation in the creation of the GCAP fighter

Italy supports Germany's accession to the project for the creation of a promising sixth-generation fighter GCAP (Global Combat Air Programme), jointly developed with the United Kingdom and Japan, after Berlin's withdrawal from the competing program involving France and Spain.

The Financial Times (FT) newspaper reported this, citing the head of the Italian engineering holding Leonardo, Lorenzo Mariani.

Germany's participation will bring long-term benefits, he told the publication. Although the GCAP partners have already agreed on the division of work after difficult negotiations, Mariani said, Leonardo and British BAE Systems have already successfully collaborated with the German defense division of Airbus on the Eurofighter Typhoon. "Having another partner that has both financial resources and industrial competence would be good," the head of the Italian conglomerate noted.

The German government and Airbus, as the publication recalls, indicated that Berlin seeks either to lead a new project or to join an existing one if its role is "substantial" and corresponds to "Germany's financial contribution."

According to Mariani, he was not surprised by the collapse of the project to create a new generation European fighter FCAS (Future Combat Air System) after Germany stopped its implementation following several attempts by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to force Airbus and Dassault to resolve their differences.