Britain, Japan and Italy clash over Saudi involvement in fighter jet development

ROME – Britain and Italy are clashing over potential Saudi involvement and funding for the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), a project in which Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan were developing a sixth-generation combat aircraft, with Meloni being pro-Saudi and Britain being against the Arab Kingdom's direct involvement, according to Italian defence sources quoted by Il Fatto Quotidiano. 

 The joint new-fighter-bomber-creating venture, which was even recently given a blessing by the European Commission, was confirmed in December 2023 and collaboration was seen between the Italian Leonardo, the British Bae Systems and the Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. As Saudi Arabia attempts to align itself strategically with the west, they have viewed this project as the perfect opportunity to collaborate financially and technologically on defence, which was first brought up during Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s January Saudi trip. 

 One may recall that Giorgia Meloni a few months ago signed a 10 billion euro deal with Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during her visit at the end of January under the tent of Al-Ula. After the meeting and signing the deal, Meloni explicitly said she was in favour of the Saudis joining the program.

 Japan and Great Britain, however, are not keen on Saudi involvement. Tokyo was the first to express its opposition, not simply because it would entail modifying the program but also because it does not look favourably on the lack of respect for human rights and the Bin Salman regime’s participation in many conflicts. Until last week the British had maintained a neutral position but then ambassador to Italy, Edward Llewellyn expressed that we ought to be wary about the involvement of the Saudis. However, he did affirm that "all three countries are open to new partnerships" and that the British Defence Minister had recently been to Japan and clarified with each other the conditions for entry. The first being that the agreement must be respected and "the date of entry into service of the program, that is 2035: this is very important. We must ensure that the program maintains this deadline", continued Ambassador Llewellyn, emphasising the importance of the three nations staying united. 

 The Italian Minister of Defence, Guido Crosetto commented that the British government was not fully sharing the technology of the GCAP program with Italy and Japan and asked them to break down "the barriers of selfishness."

 og