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LONDON—Canada is poised to become a participant in the British-Italian-Japanese Global Combat Air Program (GCAP).
The partnership is set to be struck at the Farnborough International Airshow next week, according to several people familiar with the plans. The signing could still be delayed, in part because of political timetables.
Ottawa would not initially have full partnership but would have observer status. Canada would be the first country outside the core GCAP participants to formally signal its interest in acquiring the future fighter, although Saudi Arabia has also signaled interest in the platform through an initiative previously referred to as the Future Combat Air Partnership.
The GCAP would also mark a departure for Canada, which currently operates U.S. fighters. Ottawa has been considering the purchase of Saab Gripens for near-term combat aircraft needs to augment its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35s, partly in response to geopolitical issues with the U.S. government.
The GCAP is envisaged to replace the Eurofighter Typhoons flown by Italy and the U.K., and the Mitsubishi F-2s flown by Japan, but will be a larger, longer-range, low-observable multirole platform. The three nations hope to bring the aircraft into service in the latter half of the 2030s
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