Japan grows restless for next-gen fighter jets as progress with UK, Italy stalls

At an airbase outside Tokyo, engineers inspect the ageing F-2 fighters that have patrolled the Japanese skies for decades.

But with China’s newest stealth jets roaming ever closer, and the promised future of air defence still years away, Japan is growing restless.

Its partnership with Britain and Italy to build a next-generation fighter has hit turbulence – and Tokyo may no longer be willing to wait.

The sixth-generation fighter, part of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), is slated to enter service with all three nations by 2035. But development is reportedly lagging, with the first demonstrator flight now delayed until 2027 – a setback that has alarmed Japanese officials and defence analysts.

Unlike the UK and Italy, which can continue to rely on the Eurofighter Typhoon well into the 2040s, Japan faces a far more immediate need to modernise its fleet, according to experts.