A new international headquarters has officially opened in Reading to lead the development of the Tempest, a sixth-generation stealth fighter jet being jointly developed by the UK, Japan, and Italy under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
The headquarters will act as the central base for both the international government body overseeing GCAP and the newly formed industry consortium Edgewing, bringing together leading defence firms from all three nations.
Defence Procurement Minister Maria Eagle, speaking at the opening, said the shared workspace would be key to meeting the ambitious delivery target of 2035.
“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,” she said.
Cutting Delays and Driving Innovation
The new HQ is expected to streamline communication, allowing engineers, designers, and government officials to work side by side for quicker decision-making and faster innovation.
“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.
She added that close collaboration across all three nations would ensure a more unified and efficient development process.
“Having 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.”
Tempest to Replace Typhoon and F-2 Fighters
The GCAP programme aims to replace existing fighter aircraft across the partner nations. For the UK and Italy, the Tempest is expected to succeed the Eurofighter Typhoon, while for Japan, it will replace the Mitsubishi F-2.
As a sixth-generation platform, the Tempest is expected to incorporate advanced stealth, AI-enabled systems, and cutting-edge sensors, making it one of the most advanced combat aircraft in the world.
The opening of the HQ signals a shift from early-stage planning to execution, with contracts for the fighter’s design and construction expected to be in place by the end of the year.
