Parte a Torino il progetto per il “super caccia”. In arrivo duemila posti

In the city of Turin, Leonardo's France factory, a former hub of the multinational defense company in Italy, Edgewing engineers are already working on designing the Gcap, a new-generation fighter jet. This jet is part of a joint venture between Leonardo, British Bae Systems, and Japanese Japan Aircraft (Jaiec). The Torino site, after the creation of the Edgewing central office in England, is the first operational piece of this venture, presided over by British Herman Claeen and led by Italian CEO Marco Zoff, formerly head of Leonardo's aircraft division.

Soon, the English site in Warton and the Japanese site in Nagoya will join, completing the project and later industrializing it. In these three sites, teams with personnel from all nations will work together. The goal is to develop the aircraft quickly, by 2035. "We are ahead," says Zoff, "thanks to a spirit of collaboration and an excellent climate of trust and information exchange that was created from the very beginning of the project with our British and Japanese partners."

Already operational engineers and technicians in Turin will be joined by more as the project progresses, totaling around a thousand people working in synergy with another thousand resources from Leonardo directly involved in the aircraft. In the first development phase and later in production at Leonardo's Caselle facility, which already hosts Eurofighter lines, the Gcap fighter jet will be produced.

"Gcap is not just a jet," explains Zoff, "it is a sixth-generation system of systems that will intertwine all available technological expertise in different domains. Besides flying, without or with a pilot, it will be a highly technological hub for communication with ground, sea, and space activities, as well as a cyber platform.

For this reason, the choice of Turin as the design and production site was the most natural. All the skills and companies from different industries, universities, and research centers involved in the project are available here." The Piedmont defense and aerospace industry, with Leonardo's 5,200 employees and 1,100 from the joint venture with Thales Alenia Space, employs 14,500 people directly and 420 suppliers.

In 2025, the regional industry generated around 740 million in revenue. Investments in research and development by Leonardo alone account for 8.7% of the region's total research spending. These figures are expected to grow due to the Gcap project. "The Gcap," says Leonardo CEO Lorenzo Mariani, "is one of the most challenging and visionary programs for the aerospace and defense industry.

It will ensure safety and technological sovereignty for future generations, as well as having important repercussions on the civilian industry. A project of this magnitude, in the short and medium term, will have a potential impact of over ten thousand new jobs in the country." The program plans to produce the new generation of aircraft at least until 2070 and does not exclude the involvement of other countries.

Canada has been admitted as an observer, and Germany has shown interest in becoming a partner. "Decisions," explains Mariani, "lie with the governments. Industrially, the expansion of the project's base would certainly be an advantage by amplifying skills and increasing available resources. However, direct involvement in the joint venture in the short term would involve a revision of governance and, consequently, risk an elongation of times."