The ambitious project will showcase technologies of the three nations and share costs to manufacture a fighter aircraft that will guarantee air superiority in the future, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said in a press briefing.

Hamada also stressed that the trilateral initiative would serve as a basis for broader and more lasting cooperation between Tokyo, London, and Rome.

He also assured that they will maintain and strengthen Japan’s defense production and technology base by “increasing the number of mass-produced aircrafts and the training of the next generation of engineers who will be active internationally.”

Hamada’s statements came after the top leaders of each of the nations issued a Joint Statement on the Global Combat Air Program, in which they emphasized that this plan would bring broader economic and industrial benefits to all parties.

Companies including Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Britain’s BAE Systems, and Italy’s Leonardo expect to work on the aircraft’s design. IHI, Rolls-Royce, and Avio, respectively, will be tasked with engine development, according to the national press.

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