ROME — Italy’s defense minister has claimed the U.K. is not doing enough to share its cutting-edge technology with its partners on the tri-nation GCAP fighter program and called the alleged British secrecy “madness.”
Guido Crosetto warned that as long at the U.K. refrained from sharing top tech with its Italian and Japanese partners on the sixth-generation jet program it risked benefiting adversaries around the world.
“It’s a huge favor to the Russians and the Chinese,” the minister told Defense News.
Crosetto’s accusation was the second time he has singled out the U.K. for holding back on GCAP tech-sharing.
In April 2025 he told Reuters the U.K. needed to bring down the “barriers of selfishness.”
He said at the time, “Italy has broken them down totally, Japan almost totally. It seems to me that the U.K. is much more reluctant to do this, and that’s a mistake because selfishness is the worst enemy of nations.”
Asked this week by Defense News if he had changed his mind about the U.K.’s alleged reluctance to share technology, he said nothing had changed.
“They don’t want to do it,” Crosetto said, adding, “At a moment like this, not sharing technology with allies is madness.”
Crosetto said that he was trying to set an example in discussions with Leonardo, the Italian firm leading Italy’s contribution to the jet.
“I have ordered Leonardo to share its technology, let’s see if the others follow. That way we take the first step,” he said.
The Italian minister’s comments come as progress on GCAP appeared to be smooth, particularly in comparison with the French-German-Spanish FCAS fighter program, which is bogged down in work share rows.
In the U.K., a tri-nation GCAP government office is now working closely with industrial consortia handling sensors, propulsion and integration, with the aim of getting the plane delivered by 2035.
One other blip this month has been Italy’s announcement that the bill it is facing for designing and developing the jet has risen from a forecast €6 billion ($7.1 billion) in 2021 to €18.6 billion, triggering criticism from Italian opposition parties.
Nevertheless, in a meeting this month between Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Japanese prime minister Takaichi Sanae, the two leaders “expressed satisfaction for the progress of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).”
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
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