Canada joins as observer in Japan-UK-Italy next-generation fighter jet program

Canada will join as an observer in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), a next-generation fighter jet co-development project pursued by Japan, Britain and Italy.

Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Shin-ji held talks with his British, Italian and Canadian counterparts in Britain on Tuesday and announced the decision at a subsequent press conference, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Nikkei on Wednesday.

The three founding nations and Canada aim to develop the next-generation fighter with stealth capabilities on par with the US F-35 and the ability to conduct coordinated operations with drones, the Yomiuri reported.

Japan's Defense Ministry plans to deploy the new aircraft in 2035, when its Air Self-Defense Force begins retiring its F-2 fighters.

Japan sees GCAP participation as a way to advance its domestic fighter manufacturing technology and reduce its dependence on US-supplied fighter equipment and technology. Canada, which similarly seeks to diversify a defense procurement structure heavily concentrated on the United States, is also joining GCAP to broaden its fighter acquisition options, analysts said.

Japan lifted its longstanding ban on lethal weapons exports in principle in April and intends to actively pursue exports of the next-generation fighter developed through GCAP.

Germany, Australia and other friendly nations — in addition to Canada, which has agreed to join as an observer — have expressed interest in acquiring the aircraft, the Nikkei reported.

Meanwhile, Koizumi said he shared with his British, Italian and Canadian counterparts details of Chinese and Russian naval live-fire exercises conducted Sunday within Japan's exclusive economic zone, including a machine-gun drill carried out by a Chinese vessel.

After citing the security environment shaped by growing military coordination between China and Russia, Koizumi said he was pleased to welcome Canada — a country with coastlines on both the Pacific and Atlantic — as a GCAP observer. He added that Japan would "devote full effort to alert and surveillance" in response to the Chinese and Russian navies conducting live-fire exercises inside Japan's EEZ.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Minoru, the Japanese government's spokesperson, directly rebuffed at his regular briefing Wednesday a Chinese government claim that Okinotorishima — where the Russian navy conducted live-fire drills — "is a reef, not an island, and cannot generate an EEZ or continental shelf."

Kihara said Okinotorishima "is an island under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and possesses an EEZ and continental shelf," adding that China's assertion "is not correct."

He added that Japan has effectively administered Okinotorishima since a July 1931 Home Ministry notice and has established the rights and status befitting an island.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said at a briefing Tuesday that "Japan's claim of an EEZ based on the Okinotorishima reef violates international law," and that "China's activities in the relevant high seas are consistent with international law and international practice."