Canada has joined the Global Combat Air Programme as its first Observer Nation, the Ministry of Defence has announced, with the UK, Italy and Japan opening the door to future Canadian participation in the sixth-generation fighter effort in an announcement made on Wes Streeting’s first day as Defence Secretary.
The announcement came as Streeting hosted his Japanese, Italian and Canadian counterparts, Shinjirō Koizumi, Guido Crosetto and David McGuinty, at Wellington Barracks in London. Canada will gain direct insight into GCAP, including capability development, industrial collaboration and long-term delivery plans, through structured engagement with the partner nations, and while it will not have a decision-making role, the MoD says observer status gives Ottawa privileged access to the programme and paves the way for discussions on Canada’s future participation and contribution.
“The first duty of any government is to keep our country safe. That’s why I’m pushing this programme forward on my very first day in the job. GCAP continues to strengthen our security, drive technological innovation and create highly skilled jobs across the UK,” Streeting said, as quoted in the announcement. “We are proud to welcome Canada to this new phase of engagement and look forward to sharing expertise and working on technological advances as we continue to deliver this groundbreaking programme.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham tied the announcement to his first commitments in office. “As I said on the steps of Downing Street, we are going to honour our commitments on defence – and use that investment to transform people’s lives. And we are going to work even more closely with our allies,” he said, as quoted in the announcement. “So today, we are not just recommitting to our state-of-the-art GCAP fighter programme – but I am delighted to announce that Canada will join the programme as the first Observer Nation. GCAP is already one of the world’s most ambitious defence and industrial partnerships – supporting 4,500 jobs across the UK. Today’s announcement makes it even stronger.”
The move builds on decades of collaboration between the UK and Canada as Five Eyes members and NATO allies, and folds Ottawa into a programme delivering a sixth-generation aircraft designed to operate alongside capabilities including the F-35, using advanced autonomy, AI, uncrewed systems and next-generation sensors to maintain air superiority. Canada has been weighing its future fighter arrangements amid a publicly troubled relationship with its F-35 purchase, making a structured window into the leading non-American sixth-generation effort a significant hedge, and observer status creates the first formal mechanism for a fourth nation to draw close to a partnership whose founders have previously fielded interest from countries including Saudi Arabia.
Great news, bringing Canada onboard even just as an observer isn’t to be sniffed at.
It’s an ideal platform for their needs. They either use a platform like Gripen that can be used from numerous scattered bases or they use a very highly capable, large long range platform that can cruise and scan over very large areas for long periods in a very fused manner. I think that Canada will get the Gripen to use in the way it does best, use a small number of F-35s for the higher end capability and then in the later thirties if all goes well gradually supplement and then gradually replace all or most with Tempest. But obviously Tempest has to prove itself, but it’s the clear and obvious choice as things stand. Now will this bring others to the table too and if so when.
A 21st Century AVRO Arrow
Yes, Tempest is that big!
Yep it was not just the UK that essentially shot its own airo industry in the head in around the 1960s
May they be the first of many
Hopefully, and I think there is a real chance of making gcap a real success. Realpolitik will always come into it tho…Tempest looks ideal for Australia, for example, but if they were to ever seriously think about buying it, the US would soon threaten them with withholding submarine transfers under AUKUS…
Great a defence sec with no experience. At least Jarvo had credibility even though he was an ex Pongo
It doesn’t have to be a problem IF he listens to those who do have experience.
I don’t agree, I don’t see why not being ex military means Streeting will be a failure.
DoH ministers are not surgeons or doctors.
The minister in charge of the DoT isn’t a train driver.
Streeting is a high profile figure t in Labour whose run a big Department of State before.
He’s needed to sort out waste and fight for the Department, which I believe as an ambitious politician who wanted the top job he will do.
Let the military provide the expertise in military matters.
I’m hopeful he will be a success.
So far, I’m agreeing with everything Burnham has done, and agree with his desire for reindustrialisation, hopefully by military investment.
Agreed 👍
Yes to be honest you actually don’t want an expert at the very top.. especially in very complex and wide ranging areas.. because nobody can be a true expert in all areas of a profoundly complex system and experts have bias created by the developed of their own experience and expertise..
You want your experts sitting in the head guy’s pockets giving him all the options and potential compromises..
Let’s be honest if your defence secretary is and ex army, navy or airforce they will have an inbuilt bias no matter how hard they try to be balanced… same with Drs in the NHS one of the worst things the Tories in the 2011 NHS reforms was to give decision making powers over the whole system to Drs very specificity GPs.. they were a nightmare, always promoting the medical models not seeing even other fields of medicines views, let alone Nurses, physios, pharmacists, managers and patients… it caused no end of pain and stopped the NHS truly reforming in the 2011-2024 timeframe.. until Labour booted them back to their practices.
Agreed. Streeting is a loud mouth who claimed he was going to sort out the NHS. He didn’t even resolve the doctor’s dispute, before resigning to stab Starmer in the back. A disaster for defence is what he will be.
He actually did and has completely changed the NHS.
1) 16.5% reduction in DOH staff
2) 50% reduction in NHSE and ICB staff.. ( we are talking 10,000 thousands of senior managers made redundant)
3) he was cutting the Number of ICBs by about 50% and had completed cut all NHSE regional teams..
4) The total cull of the NHS bureaucracy will save 1 billion a year..
No other politician has ever had the balls to essentially sack almost 20,000 NHS managers and administrators.
But not only that he’s moving huge numbers of the clinician managers who had moved over to the bureaucracy back to front line services.. trying getting a job as a nurse at present you can’t because of all the NHSE and ICB nurses being redeployed to trusts.
A very very effective if brutal health secretary.. and I don’t like him as he’s made a load of my friends redundant.
Wasn’t stripping the NHS England layer out of the NHS organisation a manifesto commitment? I can see Burnham aligning the health boards with reorganised, devolved local authorities. Devolve the NHS, align it with social care and local taxation.
Streeting is a lucky man. He will get the credit for work done by his predecessors like Healy and a decision I suspect probably already taken by Burnham to raise defence spending. As regards funding I think Mc Fadden will push through some savings in benefits spending and there will be increases in capital gains tax and / or property or land taxes. The national shipbuilding strategy is coming good – export orders for T26, T31, UK build of 8 MRSS. Ajax was a fiasco but UK Boxer and RBSL are driving re-industrialisation and we are in a decent position with respect to the next european MBT. AUKUS subs, RR reactors, GCAP, Babcock Jackals and likely Patrias – all good. I’m guessing the Landrover replacement will probably be UK built. There are deals to be done with Leonardo for UK assembly of AW149 and hopefully M346, both of which will be good export earners and will create good UK jobs and pay packets which will fund taxation and grow the economy. If he has any sense Streeting will strap in and enjoy the ride.
Trumps attitude to his allies has gone way beyond legitimate chastisement for over reliance on the US and is far better than any sales patter inviting nations to get involved and purchasing GCAP.
Keep it up Donald.
Great news, America can be allowed to buy a watered down tempest export ‘no cards’ version.
Political spin aside, this is encouraging news. Fingers crossed it will result in orders in the future.
Excellent news. Just what Canada will need in thr future.
Is Canada joining good news? I saw a news report suggesting Canadian companies might get or want a share of the work? Which we don’t need, it will be more delays with unrealistic demands, followed by whining about the cost. Look at the horlicks their ‘type 26’ has turned into. The only reason they are here is because FCAS is dead and the politics involved with the yanks is difficult. Sell it to them but on our terms, when it’s ready.
Canada has very deep pockets and a very competent defence sector
Does it? Is that why their navy is even more shagged out than ours.
Canada has invested little in Defence, but it can afford to, and is now spending more.
It’s hit 2% this year, and is on track to hit 3.5% end of the decade and 5% after that.
Canada recorded a Government Debt to GDP of 113.50 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product in 2025.
Meaningless – go look up Japans Debt to GDP and their huge armed Forces
People often forget Japanese debt… but it has structured it very very differently..
Essentially Japan does not go to the international bond market.. its own citizens buy national debt as well as it’s central bank.. basically most Japanese debt is kept within Japan and just for kicks the Japanese government artificially lowers its interest rates to as close to zero percent as possible.. so all that debt cost almost nothing.. the UK is paying 5% on a lot of its debt to the international money markets…
People tend to forget that Japan has a very “unwritten” controlled economy.. government has what it calls “administrative guidance” over its financial and all major industries.. essentially Japanese business are run for the strategic good of the Japanese Nation… they don’t do a Dyson.
There ya go, interest rates.
Compared to the UK, Canadas rates are much lower – the UK is facing economic disaster barring a miracle