New HQ aims to get tri-national sixth-gen Tempest stealth fighter delivered by 2035

The new headquarters for the Global Combat Air Programme in Reading will boost efficiency and get the stealth jet delivered on time, Defence Procurement Minister Maria Eagle has said.

GCAP is a joint initiative between the UK, Japan and Italy to develop the sixth-generation Tempest by 2035.

Speaking at the launch of the new tri-national HQ, she said: "This is an important milestone for us to get the HQ open, to get that collaboration going really strongly, to make sure that the next challenge we have … to start organising contracts for the design and build of the GCAP itself, [is] going hopefully by the end of the year."

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The new headquarters will house both the international government organisation and the joint venture known as Edgewing, which brings together leading defence firms from each partner nation.

"Have everybody designing and doing all this work together means that we'll get… faster innovation, more of a joint understanding of how we're going to do what we're planning on doing," Ms Eagle said.

She said the shared workspace would reduce delays.

"There's no mucking about having to wait weeks for an answer… just go and ask somebody and you'll have the answer straight away," Ms Eagle explained.

The GCAP programme aims to deliver a new combat air capability to replace current fighter fleets across the three nations.

This means the Tempest would replace the Typhoon in service with the RAF and Italian air force, and the Mitsubishi F-2 that's in service with the Japan Air Self-Defence Force.