Cautionary comment from editor of defense-aerospace.com:

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The above Statement of Intent is a low-level way for Italy to collaborate on the UK’s Tempest program, and the way it was handled indicates that it does not fully meet the expectations of the British government.
First of all, it is signed not by defense ministers but by their national armament directors, which clearly shows that it is of insufficient significance to warrant ministerial involvement.
When Spain joined the French-German SCAF project, and even when Sweden reluctantly agreed to cooperate on the UK’s Tempest project, both agreements were signed by their respective defense ministers, which gave them a ministerial imprimatur that the Italian agreement sorely lacks.
As BAE’s statement at bottom makes clear, it is Italian industry that is to join the Tempest program, while the government-to-government link to this program remains very generic.
Consequently, the significance of the agreement should not be over-estimated, nor mistaken for Italy’s full commitment to joining Tempest.
It is probable that Italy consented to sign the agreement as a means of providing some form of political cover to allow Italian industry (Leonardo Italy, Avio Aero, Elettronica, MBDA Italy etc.) to participate in Tempest, of which Leonardo’s UK subsidiaries are already full members.)

https://www.defense-aerospace.com/ar…t-program.html

Just need Japan to join and Tempest will look like a project which could get launched with commitments to 350+ aircraft (say UK x 150 Italy x 100 Sweden x 40 Japan x 100) a few years from now.

About the Japanese project:

The goal is for Japan to lead the development process, which at present is estimated to cost at least ¥1.5 trillion ($14 billion). The government wants the new fighter to be ready by the mid-2030s, when phaseout of the F-2 is scheduled to begin.

Does it make sense for Japan to spend an estimated $14+ billion on developing an aircraft when it is antipated that less than 100 will be ordered? I don’t see the point of embarking on such a project. So expensive (my guess is $300 million-$400 million overall cost per fighter) that it will be liable to cancellation.

Japan can take Turkey’s share

It would require overturning the basis on which partner status was set out.

“The F-35 cooperative Partnership closed on 15 July 2002,” stated Brandi Schiff, a spokesperson for the F-35 JPO.The decision was documented in an April 2002 memo by the Pentagon’s acquisition executive stating that, “except for those countries with which we are already engaged in Level III System Development and Demonstration partnership negotiation by 15 July 2002, we will not be able to accommodate any additional Level III partners due to our inability to offer equitable government-to-government benefits and U.S. industry’s inability to offer equitable ‘best value’ workshare arrangements,” according to Schiff.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2019/07/29/japan-wants-to-be-an-official-f-35-partner-the-pentagon-plans-to-say-no/

Japan could have joined before the deadline. Japan did not. C’est la vie.

Time for India and the Teja to jump in.

Source
https://uk.reuters.com/

I think India needs all the Tejas it can produce ASAP.

In any event India needs to organise effective support for Tejas export orders before accepting any. Getting an order then demonstrating to other potential export customers that you cannot provide post-sales support is a very stupid thing to do.

Early 50’s? According to Wiki it did not enter service in USA until May 1957. The RAF received their first Lightnings in Dec 1959.

Lightning was designed as an interceptor (what the RAF required). Voodoo was not.

F-104 Starfighter entered service in February 1958. Much better suited to RAF requirements than Voodoo.