A visitor sits in the cockpit of a mock-up of a GCAP (Global Combat Aircraft Program) fighter jet at Farnborough International Exhibition Centre on July 22, 2026 in Farnborough, England. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
FARNBOROUGH — A senior executive at Canada’s leading flight simulation and training company, CAE, said he hopes Ottawa’s new observer status within the Global Combat Air Programme could open the door for new work for Canada’s aerospace industry.
“As a proud company and Canadian exporter in defense training and simulation — an area where our country contributes on a global stage — we sure hope, obviously, that Canada will bring us onboard but also go more than just be an observer, though that is not for CAE to decide,” Pascal Grenier, president of Defense and Security at CAE, said at the Farnborough International Airshow last week, after the much-awaited GCAP announcement was made.
The official announcement was vague about any specific participation Canada would have in the British-Italian-Japanese sixth-gen fighter program, saying that observer status would “provide Canada with enhanced insight into GCAP and an opportunity to deepen its understanding of the Programme’s governance, capabilities and industrial framework, as well as the related security requirements and wider partnering opportunities.”
