Farnborough 2026: GCAP ‘never in doubt' despite UK DIP delay

A full scale model of GCAP at the Farnborough International Airshow 2026. Programme leaders have expressed their confidence in the commitment of the three partner nations to the endeavour. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

The trilateral Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) to develop a next-generation combat aircraft “was never in doubt”, despite the delayed publication of the UK Defence Investment Plan (DIP) that freed up the crucial next stage of funding, officials have said.

Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow 2026, the CEO of the Edgewing industrial consortium charged with delivering the project, Marco Zoff, and the CEO of the GCAP Agency that is part of the GCAP International Government Organisation (GIGO) co-ordinating body, Masami Oka, both said that it was their shared belief that the three partners of Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom were each wholly committed to the programme, and that the delays to the UK DIP were inconsequential to its continuation.

“From the industrial side, we were never in doubt,” Zoff said on 20 July 2026, adding, “The DIP was a complex issue, because it was forecasting the future of UK defence in many, many, areas, and not only GCAP. It was a long and complicated process, but in terms of commitment [to GCAP] no one [at Edgewing] ever had any doubt […] because we knew the commitment was there from three [national] parties.”