TOKYO: Former Japanese Vice Minister of Defense for International Affairs Masami Oka will be the first head of a planned international body to manage joint development plans for next-generation fighter jets, the Defense Ministry has said.

The announcement about the trilateral body among Japan, Britain and Italy, called GIGO, was timed to coincide with a meeting of their defense ministers, Gen Nakatani of Japan, John Healey of Britain and Guido Crosetto of Italy, in the Italian city of Naples on Saturday evening.

The ministers discussed the joint fighter jet development, known as the Global Combat Air Program, or GCAP.

GIGO, short for the GCAP International Government Organization, is designed to streamline development by centralizing contracts currently concluded by the three countries separately with companies of each country. It will also manage exports in the future.

The organization will be headquartered in London and launched by year-end. Its top leadership will be a rotating post among the three countries.

At the Naples meeting, the ministers shared the view that the next-generation fighter jet development is “indispensable for the peace and stability of Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.” They agreed to steadily promote the project.

Oka joined the Defense Agency, currently the Defense Ministry, in 1986. He served as director-general at the Defense Policy Bureau and the Bureau of Policies for Regional Society before he left the ministry in July 2023.

JIJI Press