Home / Sources / Select Committees / 2nd Special Report - The Global Combat Air Programme: Gover…
Select committee: Defence Committee

2nd Special Report - The Global Combat Air Programme: Government Response

Published 21 March 2025

Defence Committee Future Aviation Capabilities Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to 3rd report - The Global Combat Air Programme.

This is the government's response, published 21 March 2025.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government welcomes the Committee's assessment of GCAP's importance, agrees with several recommendations, and does not give a specific response on the Hawk conclusion beyond saying alternative options are being assessed.

  • On partners, it says the UK, Japan and Italy "are open to further partners", but that this "must similarly be driven by the needs of the programme and its agreed timeline".
  • On delivery structures, it agrees that "an empowered joint delivery organisation will be essential", citing the 2024 treaty ratified by all three partners to set up the GCAP International Government Organisation.
  • On costs and transparency, it says it "is committed to transparency to support proper scrutiny" and is "actively pursuing means to manage costs". The response does not commit to the multi-year funding arrangement the Committee asked it to consider.
  • On Hawk, it says recent events led to an investigation, that "further investment will be required" for Hawk T2 to reach its 2040 out of service date, and that alternative options "are being assessed".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Sources