{"id":146170,"date":"2026-07-28T01:44:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T01:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/146170\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T01:44:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T01:44:52","slug":"cae-hopes-canadas-new-gcap-status-brings-industry-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/146170\/","title":{"rendered":"CAE hopes Canada’s new GCAP status brings industry business"},"content":{"rendered":"

FARNBOROUGH \u2014 A senior executive at Canada\u2019s leading flight simulation and training company, CAE, said he hopes Ottawa\u2019s new observer status<\/a> within the Global Combat Air Programme could open the door for new work for Canada\u2019s aerospace industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a proud company and Canadian exporter in defense training and simulation \u2014 an area where our country contributes on a global stage \u2014 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,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

The official\u00a0announcement<\/a>\u00a0was vague about any specific participation Canada would have in the British-Italian-Japanese sixth-gen fighter program, saying that observer status would \u201cprovide Canada with enhanced insight into GCAP and an opportunity to deepen its understanding of the Programme\u2019s governance, capabilities and industrial framework, as well as the related security requirements and wider partnering opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise Canada\u2019s own department of defense only discussed<\/a> \u201cpotential future participation\u201d and the ability to \u201cexplore opportunities\u201d for its defense industry to contribute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an email statement to Breaking Defense, the Italian Ministry of Defense specified that at this stage observer status \u201cdoes not entail an industrial role for Canada.\u201d It added that it is currently \u201cnot possible to predict the timing, modalities, or conditions of any potential expansion\u201d of the new member\u2019s participation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Based on the latest available\u00a0data<\/a>\u00a0from Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, its defense industry generated roughly $17.3 billion in revenue in 2024, with aerospace as the largest export driver. A recent\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0by Export Development Canada listed four sectors of Canada\u2019s industrial strength: land vehicles, advanced subsystems including sensors and electronics, technical services such as MRO, and mission and simulation systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CAE\u2019s Grenier said Ottawa should see GCAP not only as another aircraft, but also as a program that aligns with the country\u2019s defense industrial strategy goals of \u201ccreating jobs, expertise and future export.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added that while the company\u2019s flight simulation technology could benefit the fighter jet program, it also goes beyond these systems to ensure mission readiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cReceiving these platforms doesn\u2019t make you ready to operate them \u2014 you need proper training and servicing. As you buy platforms that are done outside the country, the sovereignty aspect is often found in the training,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FARNBOROUGH \u2014 A senior executive at Canada\u2019s leading flight simulation and training company, CAE, said he hopes Ottawa\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11816,15848,366,47595,18445,17,586,12351,10304,15247,4391,5046,384,691,3533],"class_list":["post-146170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-aerospace","tag-air-force","tag-asia","tag-business-industry","tag-cae","tag-canada","tag-europe","tag-fighter-jet","tag-gcap","tag-global","tag-indo-pacific","tag-italy","tag-japan","tag-nato","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}