Leonardo CEO Eyes Expedited GCAP Entry Into Service

Leonardo’s CEO Lorenzo Mariani has suggested that the multi-national Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) could become operational “a couple of years” ahead of its stated 2035 entry into service timeline, albeit with likely modifications to initial capabilities. Speaking during the Italian aerospace and defense group’s second quarter earnings call on July 31, he acknowledged what he termed “quite a strong push” to bring GCAP’s future fighter concept into service sooner. 

This expedited timeline “is something that has been said in [ministerial] meetings and has been motivated correctly, in my view, by the urgency of having such [a] multi-domain system starting to operate as quickly as possible, as early as possible,” Mariani suggested.

According to him, accelerated timelines would be feasible “by making that entry into service even more gradual than it was supposed to be, so probably modulating the requirements that this initial version will fulfil.” However, he did not specify which, if any, initial capabilities could be compromised on. 

Edgewing—a trinational joint venture between BAE Systems, Leonardo, and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement—received a £4.6 billion ($6.1 billion) 18-month contract in July to “enable completion of the advanced concept and assessment phase of the program.” At the time, Edgewing stated this initial contract would enable the trilateral Italy-Japan-UK partnership to “build momentum and accelerate the pace of delivery.”  

Mariani’s GCAP remarks bolster other comments, made earlier in the call, that the world has now entered into a geopolitically-prompted period of accelerated defense spending. “Despite different countries behaving in slightly different modes, we are really convinced that we are in a structural long-term defense spending trend,” he suggested. “We need to accelerate many of our initiatives because the world outside… is really going at a different pace.” 

Meanwhile, Mariani cautioned that the time is fast approaching to finalise potential additional partners looking to join the GCAP consortium, “because otherwise, confidence in time scales will be lost.” Last month, Canada became the program’s first ‘observer’ nation, gaining what the four governments termed “enhanced insight.” 

Germany, Singapore and Saudi Arabia are also candidates for collaboration. However, Mariani concluded there may be rationale in “losing some time now to reach a more stable and healthy consortium, and then maybe gain time in the second part of the development.”