Japan, Italy and the UK are bringing their next-generation jet fighter projects together in a ground-breaking partnership, representing Japan’s first major industrial defence collaboration beyond its traditional ally, the United States, since World War Two. The nations will merge their current plans for the development of next-generation planes — the F-X and Britain’s Tempest, a successor to the Eurofighter Typhoon — to put the new combat aircraft into operation in 2035, a venture they called the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) in a joint statement released on Friday. “We are committed to u…