Progress of Sixth Generation Fighter Projects in the UK, Italy, Japan, and Other Countries is Slow

[Global Times Special Correspondent Wu Yan, Global Times Reporter Ma Jun] In addition to the "Future Combat Air System" (FCAS) project, many countries around the world are continuing to advance the development of sixth-generation fighter jet projects. However, many of these projects face their own issues and uncertainties, and the future prospects of subsequent projects remain to be seen.

Another sixth-generation fighter project, the "Global Combat Air Program" (GCAP), initiated by the UK and Italy and later joined by Japan, is also facing difficulties. This project is based on the UK's 2018 proposal for the "Tempest" sixth-generation fighter program, integrating the latest aviation technology achievements from the UK, Japan, and Italy, with the aim of creating an advanced fighter that combines supersonic cruise capability and the latest air combat technologies to replace the current European Typhoon and Japanese F-2 fighter jets.

The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported on the 8th that tensions between Tokyo and London regarding the GCAP project have been escalating recently. The project is expected to cost hundreds of billions of pounds, with the UK planning to invest at least £12 billion over the next decade. However, due to a shortage of defense funding, London intends to delay its investment, and the UK Treasury even suggested postponing British spending on GCAP until the 2030s, which has caused serious dissatisfaction on the Japanese side. Reports indicate that Japanese officials have privately complained that the UK is becoming a "ghost ally."

The report also mentioned that former U.S. President Trump was trying to persuade Japan to abandon the GCAP project in favor of collaborating with the United States. Currently, the U.S. is simultaneously advancing two sixth-generation fighter projects, including the U.S. Air Force's F-47 fighter and the U.S. Navy's F/A-XX carrier-based fighter. The F-47 fighter has been confirmed to be developed by Boeing and is currently in the engineering development and prototype manufacturing phase, with its first flight planned for 2028. It is clearly defined as an air superiority stealth fighter, with the core mission of achieving air dominance rather than multi-role ground attack. Recently, U.S. media released blurry images of a mysterious aircraft suspected to be the F-47, but the large canard configuration used by the aircraft is not conducive to all-aspect stealth, leading to various speculations.

The U.S. Navy plans to select a developer for the F/A-XX carrier-based fighter between Northrop Grumman and Boeing this August. Currently, there is very little information available about it, with the U.S. Navy only revealing that it will gradually replace the current F/A-18E/F and EA-18G fighters on U.S. aircraft carriers, and it will have a longer operational range to meet the requirements for operations in the Pacific region.

Chinese experts interviewed by the Global Times stated that although many countries around the world are continuing to advance the development of sixth-generation fighter projects, many of these projects face their own issues and uncertainties. For example, like the FCAS fighter project, the GCAP project also faces differing technical performance indicators proposed by various parties, disputes over funding allocation and control, which have led to slow project progress. Although the U.S. Air Force's sixth-generation fighter F-47 project claims to have excellent performance, its cost is extremely high, with a unit price expected to exceed $300 million, making it the "most expensive fighter in history." Such a high price brings a lot of uncertainty to its subsequent research and procurement prospects. The Pentagon believes that the U.S. cannot simultaneously advance the development of two major sixth-generation fighter projects, which is why the budget for the F/A-XX carrier-based fighter project was once frozen; although it was later restored, it still casts a shadow over the development of the project.