New design for next-gen UK-Italy-Japan fighter unveiled 

 FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW—The three companies building a next-generation combat fighter for the U.K., Italy, and Japan have released a new concept for its design with a bigger, triangular wingspan.

On the first day of the Farnborough Air Show, UK’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo, and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries touted a new design on the show floor, with a “much more evolved design with a wingspan larger than previous concepts to improve the aerodynamics of the future combat aircraft,” BAE said in a statement. 

The trilateral effort is called the Global Combat Air Programme, or GCAP. It would use technology developed for the UK’s Tempest program, which aims to fly its own prototype in 2027 and ultimately produce a jet to replace the Royal Air Force’s Eurofighter Typhoon. 

GCAP itself is part of the UK’s Future Combat Air System, a “family of systems” that aims to field drones as well as sixth-gen fighters.