Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has said Britain is not fully sharing technologies with Italy and Japan in a major project to develop a new fighter jet and urged London to bring down the “barriers of selfishness”.
In an interview with Reuters, Crosetto underscored the importance of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), which aims to develop by 2035 an aircraft that incorporates the most advanced technologies.
France wasn’t willing to let Italy in on the FCAS, so they didn’t really leave Italy with any options. This situation arose because of France not being interested in a larger EU collaboration, not because Italy wasn’t.
EDIT: I’d also add that France was the member to bail on the Eurofighter Typhoon, the last big European fighter collaboration.
Because Germany (and maybe other) refused to work on a nuclear capable and carrier capable model. Which were non negotiable for France.
Also because it allows France to favor domestic industry, let’s not pretend otherwise.