WARTON, England, July 15 (Reuters) - The prospect of a new country joining the British-Italian-Japanese project to develop a fighter jet is diminishing, a BAE Systems executive said, after long-standing speculation that Saudi Arabia could become a fourth partner.

“Joining the baseline programme today in a position similar to Japan, Italy and the UK is now very difficult given the pace we have achieved and where we are today,” said Hermann Claessen, Managing Director of BAE Systems’ Future Combat Air Systems business.

"The possibility diminishes with time," he added.

The British-Italian-Japanese project, called the Global Combat Air Program, was announced in 2022, ahead of the formal launch of a joint venture in June 2025, with the goal of producing a next-generation stealth aircraft by 2035.

Claessen said it is possible that a new partner will join the project, but the decision will be up to the three governments, who will have to consider the potential delays that could result from any change to their current agreement.

The advantage of having a new partner would be to expand the market for the aircraft, but Claessen said he was confident there would be enough demand.

"I think there is something of a waiting list forming of different countries that want to talk to the three governments," he said.

A rival Franco-German project to build a new fighter jet has made slower progress, plagued by delays and conflicts over labor share and intellectual property rights.

The Global Combat Air Programme is led by BAE Systems in the UK, Leonardo in Italy, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan.

An experimental model of the aircraft, known as the Tempest, was displayed in Warton, Britain.

(Prepared by Abdel Hamid Makkawi for the Arabic Bulletin - Edited by Ali Khafagi)