TOKYO/LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Japan, Britain and Italy are merging their next-generation jet fighter projects in a bridge between Europe and Asia that marks Japan's first major industrial defence collaboration beyond the United States since World War Two. The climax to months of talks reported by Reuters in July aims to put an advanced front-line fighter and pack of drones and sensors into operation by 2035 by combining the British-led Future Combat Air System, known as Tempest, with Japan's F-X in a venture called the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). Against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and…