BIT:LDO 3 February 2026 - 6 July 2026

This $6.1 Billion Fighter Jet Deal Puts BAE, Leonardo and Japan on a 2035 Clock
··

This $6.1 Billion Fighter Jet Deal Puts BAE, Leonardo and Japan on a 2035 Clock

Britain, Italy and Japan have moved their next-generation fighter jet programme into a harder engineering phase, awarding Edgewing a £4.6 billion, or about $6.1 billion, contract to advance the Global Combat Air Programme, known as GCAP. The award gives the BAE Systems, Leonardo and Japanese industry-backed venture fresh money to push detailed design work toward a planned 2035 service date. The timing matters. The contract landed after months of doubt over Britain’s funding share and just after the UK’s Defence Investment Plan committed £8.6 billion to GCAP over four years, easing a funding gap that had forced a shorter bridge contract earlier this year.
July 9, 2026
BAE Systems trades up as GCAP funding flows to contracts
···

BAE Systems trades up as GCAP funding flows to contracts

BAE Systems plc shares climbed Monday. The UK defence stock traded higher after Britain, Italy and Japan agreed to fund the next phase of the Global Combat Air Programme fighter jet. London was in a regular session at the time; the London Stock Exchange trades from 0800 to 1630 BST weekdays. Shares rose 32.5p to 2,014p by 1143 BST, putting nearly £1 billion on the company’s market cap by Google Finance’s 3.01 billion shares count. That move outperformed the FTSE 100, off 0.21% at 10,656.35 soon after.
July 6, 2026
GCAP £4.6bn fighter deal puts UK budget hold to the test
···

GCAP £4.6bn fighter deal puts UK budget hold to the test

Britain, Italy and Japan have moved their sixth-gen fighter project into a spend-rate check, putting £4.6 billion behind Edgewing for just 18 months. This is not a production contract. The deal pays for the end of the advanced concept effort and more design and development work on GCAP, the Global Combat Air Programme. The number puts more detail on a programme that investors had mostly watched through long-term defence pledges. At £255.6 million a month if spread out evenly, the new award is about 6.7 times bigger than April’s bridge contract, which comes out to £3.1 billion a year. The UK’s own four-year GCAP budget stands at £8.6 billion, or £2.15 billion annually before factoring in Italy and Japan’s contributions.
July 5, 2026
BAE Systems, Leonardo, Mitsubishi Heavy face £255 million-a-month test on GCAP fighter project
···

BAE Systems, Leonardo, Mitsubishi Heavy face £255 million-a-month test on GCAP fighter project

Global Combat Air Programme’s latest award gets attention for its size, but spending speed is the real story. The UK-Italy-Japan fighter project has awarded £5.286 billion to Edgewing since April. That works out to a monthly burn of around £252 million over the three-month bridge contract plus the new 18-month phase. Actual monthly revenue isn’t fixed, but the number gives investors a way to gauge the engineering pace behind the sixth-generation jet. GCAP Agency has given Edgewing a new £4.6 billion contract to complete the advanced concept and assessment phase and push the joint detailed design and development forward. Edgewing is the trinational prime and design authority. The contract follows an earlier £686 million deal from April.
July 4, 2026
Germany’s $41 billion military space splurge: lasers, spy satellites and 100+ secure comms satellites
·······

Germany’s $41 billion military space splurge: lasers, spy satellites and 100+ secure comms satellites

Germany is weighing investments ranging from spy satellites and space planes to lasers under a 35 billion euro military space spending plan aimed at countering what it sees as growing threats from Russia and China in orbit, the commander of its space command said. https://www.reuters.com/science/germany-eyes-lasers-spy-satellites-military-space-spending-splurge-2026-02-03/ The push matters because Berlin is treating space less like a support function and more like a place where wars can be won or lost. Major General Michael Traut said the environment above the Earth has become “sharply more contested” since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
February 3, 2026