Bombardier and BAE Systems Sign MoU on Future Combat Air Programs, Months After Canada Joins GCAP as Observer
Why It MattersBombardier's move from business-jet maker toward combat-air supplier shows Canadian industry positioning for work around GCAP and similar programmes, though the MoU commits neither company to a contract.
Bombardier has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BAE Systems to explore industrial and technological cooperation on future combat air programs in Canada. The agreement was announced on October 28, 2026, three months after Canada joined the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) as an observer. On the same day, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Tokyo that Germany is weighing whether to join the program.
Under the MoU, the companies will explore cooperation in aircraft and mission-system design, digital engineering and digital thread technologies, and long-term product support, maintenance and sustainment. Stephen McCullough, Bombardier's Executive Vice President of Engineering, Product Development and Bombardier Defense, said the agreement creates a framework for combining the companies' capabilities and could strengthen Canadian industrial capacity and create high-value employment. The MoU does not announce a specific aircraft development contract, financial commitment or production arrangement. Both companies refer to "future combat air programmes" in the plural and have not restricted the MoU to GCAP.
On July 21, 2026, the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan welcomed Canada as GCAP's first observer nation at a London meeting of the four countries' defence ministers. GCAP was established by the three founding countries in 2022 to develop a sixth-generation fighter expected to enter service in 2035. Observer status gives Canada access to information on the programme's capabilities, governance, industrial framework, security requirements and delivery plans, but no decision-making role, and it does not establish a financial commitment, aircraft purchase or guaranteed workshare. BAE Systems is the UK's lead industrial partner in GCAP, alongside Leonardo of Italy and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan; in June 2025 BAE Systems, Leonardo and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd. established Edgewing, the joint venture responsible for the aircraft's design and development. Neither company has confirmed that Bombardier will receive a GCAP contract.
Bombardier already supplies platforms for military use: its Global 6500 business jet is the basis for Saab's GlobalEye airborne early warning and control aircraft. On May 27, 2026, Canada identified Saab as its preferred supplier for a future AEW&C capability for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
