TOKYO, June 25 (Reuters) - Canadian Defence Minister David McGuinty said on Thursday he had discussed the advanced fighter jet programme being pursued by Japan, Britain and Italy with his Japanese counterpart to learn more about what he described as a "promising initiative".
The three countries launched the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) in 2022 to field a next-generation stealth fighter by 2035, led by Britain's BAE Systems, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Italy's Leonardo.
Canada's potential interest comes as the programme attracts attention from potential new partners and a rival European fighter project has collapsed. Any Canadian involvement would mark GCAP's first expansion beyond its three founding members. Speculation has grown that additional countries could join the programme, with Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto saying this month he would welcome partners willing to share development costs.
"We are interested in learning more about it. I'll take it back to my team and see what it looks like," McGuinty told Reuters in an interview after meeting Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Officials in Rome and executives at Leonardo have floated Canada, Saudi Arabia and Germany as potential future partners or observers. Any expansion of GCAP would require the agreement of its three founding members.
GCAP is one of two major Western sixth-generation fighter projects, alongside the U.S. Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme.
A rival European effort, the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), that was being developed by France, Germany and Spain, has collapsed amid a dispute between Airbus and Dassault Aviation.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by David Dolan)
