Edgewing Secures $6.1 Billion Fighter Jet Deal with UK, Italy, Japan
Your Daily Update for July 7, 2026. Plus: The UK, Italy, and Japan have confirmed a $6.1 billion deal to develop a sixth-generation stealth fighter jet with Edgewing.
Welcome to today’s daily update for Tuesday, July 7, 2026. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Breakdown
Edgewing, an aeronautics startup, has been awarded a $6.1 billion contract to develop a sixth-generation stealth fighter for the militaries of the UK, Italy, and Japan. However, there’s more to the story.
A sixth-generation fighter jet is a highly advanced class of jets that does not currently exist. These aircraft would essentially serve as command centers in the sky, possessing unmatchable stealth qualities, artificial intelligence integration, and next-generation technology.
One of the core qualities of the external design of these jets is a hypothetical lack of vertical stabilizers on the tail – the effective removal of these parts would make the planes completely invisible from the horizontal, taking up minimal space in the sky and appearing almost invisible from the ground.
The startup was actually founded for the purpose of creating a next-generation fighter jet, which had been on the cards for all three countries for several years. In June 2025, the UK’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo, and Japan’s JAIEC created the company as a joint venture, aiming to build a jet for the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP).
The GCAP is set up to be run by two separate entities: the GCAP International Governmental Organization (GIGO) and Edgewing, the industry-level producer of the jet.
While Edgewing is still an official joint venture of the GCAP, the governments of the UK, Italy, and Japan still needed to officially award the financial capital required to kick off the project, confirming their participation in a program that could yield one of the world’s most advanced fighter jets.
In April, the three governments invested more than $784 million to begin the project, but the approval of $6.1 billion to complete the design and concept-building phase of the jet only came earlier this week. Total expenditures will be much higher than that, though, as these sums only include the costs of initial research and development prior to the construction phase.
The project is slated to produce a sixth-generation fighter jet by 2035, but it is still subject to delays and other hurdles that could change that timeframe.
The three nations are racing to complete the jet as soon as possible – other powers are also developing similar aircraft. The United States has awarded the contract for the development of their very own sixth-generation fighter to Boeing, who are developing the F-47.
Meanwhile, China is building prototypes of their own, such as the Chengdu J-36 and Shenyang-50. However, like the US, the nation remains incredibly secretive about their progress, and the GCAP is expected to do the same.
The Global Snapshot
Hamas has officially dissolved the government of Gaza as part of a move to hand the leadership of the strip over to a US-backed organization, as mandated by the ceasefire the group has signed with Israel. However, many experts claim that the shift is highly symbolic – rather than working to demilitarize Gaza, they are trying to revitalize the flow of humanitarian aid, which has been throttled by Israel in recent months. These restrictions have taken place to such a large extent that even those who are set to lead the organization that will take over Gaza have not been allowed to enter, leaving them stranded in Cairo.
Ukraine and Russia have traded deadly strikes once again. Yesterday, Ukraine struck Russia’s largest oil refinery, located in the western Siberian region of Omsk, doing further damage to Russia’s ailing oil industry. Meanwhile, Russia conducted several serious strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv
At least two people are dead and thousands have been forced to evacuate after Typhoon Maysak struck southern China’s Guangxi Province. The typhoon struck Vietnam and the Chinese island of Hainan on the way to mainland China, causing extreme flooding, and the same conditions are being experienced by residents across Guangxi, particularly in the provincial capital of Nanning.
Fact of the Day (The Fact Site): Some species of snails can sleep, in a state of hibernation, for as long as three years.
Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Ignoring the facts for short-term gain will almost always bring long-term pain. (Eldon Henson)
Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Deepfake (noun, DEEP-fayk) - Deepfake refers to an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.
In a Sentence: The leaked video incriminating the school’s dean was discovered to be a deepfake.
Image: Defence Matrix / X