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Canada will be part of a European-led program to develop a next-generation fighter jet, a move that snubs the United States and its competitor aircraft that President Donald Trump unveiled last year.
Canada joined the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) as an “observer nation,” the British defense ministry said on Tuesday, meaning Ottawa will get “direct insight” into the development of the jet and the advanced technology baked into the project.
The United Kingdom, Japan and Italy are jointly building a sixth-generation jet that they say will come into service from the mid-2030s and will fly until beyond 2070. Sixth-generation jets will be very hard to detect, boast cutting-edge avionics and weapons, and have drones— known as loyal wingmen—working closely alongside the aircraft.
The most sophisticated fighter jets currently available are referred to as fifth-generation aircraft, and most Western militaries decided to buy the U.S.-made F-35, rather than create their own jets at eye-watering costs.
But since Trump returned to the White House and berated the U.S.’s allies, many countries quickly re-evaluated whether they could rely on Washington for their protection—and whether they wanted to spend billions of dollars on an American sixth-generation aircraft that is on track to be the most expensive fighter jet ever made.
The U.S. announced it would sell its in-development F-47 sixth-generation jet to other countries, but would only export a “toned-down” version of the aircraft to customer nations, without elaborating.
The remarks came shortly after reports spread that the U.S. had built a “kill switch” into F-35s, effectively meaning the U.S. could disable the jets operated by other countries on a whim. Although the rumors were quickly debunked, experts and officials conceded the U.S. could have a very noticeable impact on how well these expensive aircraft operate, should it choose to influence software upgrades or halt access to intelligence and mission data.
Canada will have “privileged access” to GCAP, the U.K. defense ministry said on Tuesday, but won’t be able to make any decisions about how the jet is developed. It’s not clear whether Canada could later become more involved in GCAP, but the observer status indicates a strong interest from Ottawa in potentially buying the aircraft, which is known as Tempest in the U.K.
Wes Streeting, who was announced as the U.K.’s new defense secretary on Tuesday by Prime Minister Andy Burnham just hours before the announcement, said the project was “groundbreaking” as he hosted his Japanese, Italian and Canadian counterparts in London.
It comes after Trump said the U.S. would slap Canada with a 50 percent tariff on a range of imported goods, the latest escalation in the simmering trade war between the two neighbors that has accompanied Trump’s repeated references to Canada as the U.S.’s “51st state.” This label has been firmly batted away by Ottawa.
Canada is still reviewing whether it will buy a total of 88 F-35s from the U.S. after confirming the deal in 2023. Ottawa has committed to purchasing the first 16 F-35s, but it’s not yet clear whether Canada will pivot to a mixed fleet, blending a handful of F-35s with another type of jet, like the Swedish Gripen.
Canada’s air force is closely linked with the U.S., not least through the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which is made up of personnel from both countries.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Frances Mao and Sam Wilson.
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