British/Italian Tempest (GCAP) Fighter : News and Discussion

[Ashwin]

Japan and Britain’s New GCAP Fighter is Exceptionally Large and Expensive: Tokyo’s Range Requirements Raise Costs"These requirements...have contributed to cost projections of close to $600 million per aircraft"

Japan and Britain’s New GCAP Fighter is Exceptionally Large and Expensive: Tokyo’s Range Requirements Raise Costs

Japan’s requirements for the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) have helped drive the development of an unusually large fighter, reflecting Tokyo’s need for substantially greater range, weapons capac…

militarywatchmagazine.com

 

[Bon Plan]

Japan and Britain’s New GCAP Fighter is Exceptionally Large and Expensive: Tokyo’s Range Requirements Raise Costs"These requirements...have contributed to cost projections of close to $600 million per aircraft"

Japan and Britain’s New GCAP Fighter is Exceptionally Large and Expensive: Tokyo’s Range Requirements Raise Costs

Japan’s requirements for the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) have helped drive the development of an unusually large fighter, reflecting Tokyo’s need for substantially greater range, weapons capac…

militarywatchmagazine.com

How many units will they be able to purchase?

 

[Optimist]

"One 2025 British capability outline cited a potential weapons payload roughly twice that of an F-35A and enough internal fuel for a transatlantic crossing without aerial refuelling. These requirements, and the demonstrated inefficiencies of Europe’s combat aviation industry, have contributed to cost projections of close to $600 million per aircraft, compared to approximately $90 million for the U.S. F-35A. "

The Rafale and Eurofighter are dearer than the F-35, apple to apple
the '$90m' is a basic flyaway cost, a package runs $250m, The estimated $600m will need to be qualified as to what it includes

If the FCAS gets up, it will have a comparable cost to the GCAP

It all makes even the F-47 cheap
Cost Breakdown and Context

• • Per-Unit Cost: Current estimates place the price tag for initial production models at about $300 million each, though initial unit estimates without R&D spread can vary. [1, 2]
  • Comparison: This makes the F-47 about three times as expensive as an F-35 Lightning II, which runs roughly $80 to $100 million per jet. [1]
  • Program Investment: The total development contract awarded to Boeing is valued at over $20 billion, with annual funding requests topping $5 billion. [1, 2]
  • Fleet Size: Due to the high per-unit cost, the U.S. Air Force initially plans for a boutique fleet of around 185 aircraft.