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The Republic of Singapore has expressed its first interest in joining a 6th Generation fighter programme only a week after Canada joined GCAP as an observer.

As reported by Janes on Tuesday, Singapore has begun early discussions on possible involvement in GCAP, with reports suggesting that the talks are currently only “exploratory” and not indicative of any future orders or involvement in the programme.

Currently GCAP is manned by the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan, with Canada having only just joined the programme with observer status on July 21, 2026. Germany and Saudi Arabia are also interested in joining the programme in some form, in Germany’s case due to the almost total collapse of their 6th Generation FCAS programme with France.

Singapore reportedly spends years at a time evaluating the requirements of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), their nation’s long-term strategic goals and the technological and industrial opportunities, before coming to any procurement decision. This was the case with their previous air combat orders, with Singapore joining the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme in 2003 as a Security Cooperative Participant (SCP), but not making any orders until the year 2020.

Singapore is currently awaiting delivery of 12 F-35Bs and eight F-35s that were ordered from 2020. The aim of this small batch is to test the F-35 for the requirements of the RSAF before following on with a larger order to properly replace the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Republic of Singapore Air Force F-16D block 52 during Exercise PITCH BLACK, taking place across RAAF bases Darwin and Tindal in Australia’s Northern Territory. These aircraft make up the bulk of the RSAF’s striking potential, which will be replaced at some point by the F-35 Lightning II in both conventional and STOVL variants. | Source: Crown copyright 2022/AS1 Ryan Murray RAF

The RSAF fighter fleet currently consists of 40 F-15SG Strike Eagles ordered during the early 2000s as a part of Singapore’s Next Generation Fighter (NGF) programme, as well as a fleet of 49 F-16C/Ds of various blocks which were delivered from the 1998 until 2004. These aircraft represent some of the most potent fighters in the region, with only South Korea and China having more advanced aircraft entering service.

Singapore in early talks on possible involvement in GCAP programme

Singapore has begun early discussions on possible involvement in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), Janes has been informed by a source close to the matter.

https://t.co/ajrNQVj4yw pic.twitter.com/zh7vRSNrp6

— Janes (@JanesINTEL) July 28, 2026

The report from Janes suggests that the RSAF and the Singapore Ministry of Defence are keeping one eye on future air force requirements as the top defence nations are switching to 5th and 6th generation air fleets. Whilst the RSAF may not need a 6th generation platform right now, it may do so in the future, and with GCAP currently the only 6th generation platform available for international involvement and export, it makes sense that Singapore is exploring this option.

The War Zone’s contributor Roy Choo stated that: “From this news, it appears they may have identified a future requirement for a sixth-generation fighter, although this is unlikely to transition into a program of record for at least another two decades,” Choo explained. “As with most operators, Singapore engages with industry to stay informed about available market offerings all the time.”

POV: You are a RSAF F-15SG pilot training with the @USMC F-35Bs pic.twitter.com/NK37GX4f0Q

— The RSAF (@TheRSAF) February 4, 2023

This would track with the F-35 programme’s current timetable, with Singapore only receiving their first aircraft in 2026, a decade after the USAF first gained their first fighter and over two decades after the Joint Strike Fighter programme officially kicked off. In all likelihood Singapore could join the programme as an observer at some point, but it would not receive any aircraft until the F-15SGs begin to retire in the 2040s or 2050s.

As it stands, Singapore’s F-16s are likely to start leaving service from the mid 2030s, so there is a long way off any need for a new generation of fighter aircraft for the RSAF.

GCAP Current Progress

GCAP appears to be progressing well at the moment, following the announcement in the Defence Investment Plan that the UK Government was committed to spending £8.6 billion on the programme over the next four years. GCAP was certainly a winner of the DIP with recent news coming out of last week’s Farnborough Air Show painting an even more optimistic view over the future of the programme.

On July 21, Canada joined GCAP as an observer, opening the door to future Canadian participation in the sixth-generation fighter effort in an announcement made on Wes Streeting’s first day as Defence Secretary. The announcement came as Streeting hosted his Japanese, Italian and Canadian counterparts, Shinjirō Koizumi, Guido Crosetto and David McGuinty, at Wellington Barracks in London.

Mock up of the Tempest fighter at the DSEI expo in London in late 2025. The airframe is estimated to be around a third larger than the Eurofighter Typhoon, the RAF’s current mainstay fighter aircraft. | Source: James Gray

As a result of the announcement, Canada will gain direct insight into GCAP, including capability development, industrial collaboration and long-term delivery plans, but it will not have a decision making role. This allows Canada access to the programme and opens the door to a future Canadian aircraft order as the nation distances itself from the United States in favour of European defence products. This will benefit GCAP providing another nation willing to fund part of the programme, reducing overall costs for the founding nations.

The very next day, the UK Ministry of Defence awarded BAE Systems a contract extension worth £708 million to progress the development of sovereign sixth-generation combat air technologies, underpinning the UK’s role in GCAP. Under the contract, BAE Systems will deliver and integrate UK technology, including software, digital networks, digital engineering and physical infrastructure.

Part of this funding was for capabilities outside of the Tempest fighter, and were possibly also for the Brontanax collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) that will one day fly alongside it. The £708 million is national rather than joint funding for specifically the UK-sovereign technologies that will go into the wider Future Combat Air System around the aircraft.

Tempest CGI Model flying over the Palace of Westminster, the home of the UK’s government. | Source: UK Ministry of Defence

That same day at Farnborough, the Team Tempest partner companies of BAE Systems, Leonardo UK, MBDA UK and Rolls-Royce held a briefing on the accelerating development of the prototype for Tempest and the wider programme.They revealed that around half of the main aircraft structure for the UK Combat Air Demonstrator is now in final assembly at BAE Systems’ site in Lancashire, marking progress on the first crewed combat aircraft to be built in Britain in four decades.

According to the partnership, more than 11,500 parts have been designed to date, accounting for around 90% of the aircraft’s overall weight. For the demonstrator, Rolls-Royce is providing two modified EJ200 engines used on the Eurofighter Typhoon, enabling the concept to take to the air whilst the next generation engines are being worked out.

The Excalibur test aircraft is a modified Boeing 757, fitted with a radome on the nose to house the radar that will go into the Tempest fighter. This process allows the team to test the systems that will go into Tempest before the airframe is even built. A similar approach was taken with the RAF Typhoon, with a modified BAe 146-RJ100 used to test the ECRS MK2 radar. | Source: Leonardo

Alongside this news they revealed that the Excalibur Flight Test Aircraft, the UK’s flying laboratory for next-generation combat air technologies, has completed its modifications and entered the next stage of flight trials. The aircraft, developed by Leonardo and 2Excel, acts as an airborne testbed used to speed up trials of advanced integrated systems that will go into the Tempest fighter. Doing so helps to decrease the risks involved in development as it allows the companies to prove the systems in real-world conditions before they are placed in the fighter.

The GCAP demonstrator is extremely interesting. At first glance, it simply seems like a one-off prototype designed to validate the many technologies that GCAP itself will incorporate. Though smaller than GCAP, could form the basis of a second aircraft that could ultimately… pic.twitter.com/cgbcksXUFb

— Nicholas Drummond (@nicholadrummond) July 23, 2026

Rolls-Royce representative Phil Townley spoke of their next generation engine demonstrator, which will use lessons drawn from the ongoing Orpheus small engine concept. According to the company, Orpheus serves as a test of new working methods and agile engineering processes, which directly shape the technology that will go into the next generation engine they plan on using for Tempest. The consortium’s work is intended to culminate in ground testing of the demonstrator to gather data needed to de-risk the wider programme.

MBDA UK gave an update on how they are working on speeding up weapons integration onto the Tempest fighter. This is based on three key pillars, firstly by exploiting digital simulation and modelling to reduce the on-aircraft time in-chamber testing needed for integration.

Secondly, they are looking to use virtualisation; the use of commercial off-the-shelf parts and a simplified software base across the aircraft’s mission systems and its weapon systems to allow for smoother integration. Lastly, they are looking to use AI and machine learning techniques to analyse the results of testing, allowing for the creation of faster reports and assessments that normally slow down the process of testing the aircraft.

Canada and then Singapore! #GCAP is becoming one of the most important future air combat projects globally.

Surely @DefenceAust and @AusAirForce are taking a close look at their options post Super Hornet and Growler? A future air combat force of F-35A, MQ-28 Ghost Bat, and GCAP… https://t.co/EF8sQncAHT

— Dr. Malcolm Davis (@Dr_M_Davis) July 29, 2026

Once the Tempest demonstrator is finished and flying, MBDA will use these techniques at the same time as traditional integration methods to prove the new operating concept can be faster and easier to use. This will culminate in a number of real-life supersonic release fires from the test aircraft, with lessons learned then being used on the production aircraft.

Richard Berthon, Director of Future Combat Air at the Ministry of Defence, was quoted in the press release as saying:

“These achievements demonstrate the pace and scale of progress being delivered through the Team Tempest enterprise. From advanced digital manufacturing and flight testing to next-generation propulsion technologies, we are maturing the critical capabilities needed to deliver a world-leading Future Combat Air System for the UK. The expertise, skills and technologies being developed today are not only reducing risk for GCAP, they are strengthening our sovereign combat air capability and ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of air power innovation for decades to come.”

Finally, in a separate agreement made at Farnborough, MBDA UK, MBDA Italy, Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries signed a collaboration agreement to support GCAP.

3D render of GCAP, focusing on the manned element the Tempest fighter. | Source: Edgewing

The agreement sets out a new operating model under which the partners will jointly support Edgewing’s delivery of the manned fighter. This agreement doesn’t lead to the joint development of the aircraft’s weaponry but instead aligns the partners’ sovereign approaches to those weapons and supports their digital integration for GCAP.

The weapons arrangement mirrors the structure adopted elsewhere on the programme, under which each nation contributes established industrial partners who align sovereign work rather than merging it directly. This approach preserves each country’s control over their own sensitive and sovereign technology whilst enabling the integration needed for the aircraft and its weapons to function as a single system.

All these developments are good news for the programme, which appeared to be in a rocky shape earlier in the year due to a lack of initial funding from the UK. For now the course looks positive, hopefully, it will stay that way.