Eoin Drea is senior researcher at the Belgium-based Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies.

Something significant is happening in the world of advanced military aviation. Not in Washington, not in Beijing or Tehran — but in the meeting rooms of Tokyo, Rome, London, Ottawa and Berlin.

And it’s potential implications will be far-reaching.

That’s because the current geopolitical uncertainty has created a unique confluence of events. Events that could bring together five of the world’s largest economies to collaborate in a way that will surpass all previous industrial partnerships.

In the context of the continued uncertainty in the Middle East, elevated energy prices, the decline of multilateral cooperation and the unpredictability of future U.S. policy, such a development can reshape global partnerships and help build a network of interconnected trading democracies.

At its core is the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), the joint effort by Japan, the U.K. and Italy to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet by the mid-2030s. It is not a new project, but in recent months it has taken on a significance that exceeds military procurement.

It has become a test case for whether Europe and Asia can build the kind of deep industrial partnerships that actually matter. Relationships without the direct involvement, or support, of the U.S.