The tri-national Global Combat Air Programme, launched in 2022, aims to develop a supersonic sixth-generation stealth fighter by 2035, replacing the Eurofighter Typhoon used by some European countries.German participation in GCAP "is not an option" at the moment, but from an industrial perspective it would be "beneficial", Leonardo chief executive Lorenzo Mariani said on the sidelines of this week's Farnborough airshow, southwest of London. Among the advantages, he cited "strong competence of the German industry, debt funding capability from the German state and joint experience within the community" on previous fighter jet projects."The only real risk is disruption in timescales and work share," he said.Mariani stressed that he had not been officially approached by Germany to join GCAP, but said "informal talks among industries are always present".France and Germany's flagship joint jet fighter project collapsed last month, after falling victim to bickering between European aviation giant Airbus and France's Dassault.Airbus defence and space boss Michael Schoellhorn did not say whether the group would join GCAP. He said Airbus was ready to join or build a project "where we have a significant portion of the work and the leadership".