Canada recently became the first country to gain “observer status” with the Global Combat Air Program, a sixth-generation fighter jet under joint development by Italy, Japan and the U.K. While the department said observer status comes with no strings attached, there would be “resource implications” should Canada decide eventually to join the next-generation jet development program as a full member. Ottawa committed in the early 2000s to paying hundreds of millions of dollars to join the program developing the F-35 stealth fighter. The department said that since Canada is the first country to join as an observer, an “observer arrangement” is being drafted to lay out how Canada will be involved. “The ongoing F-35 review is taking into consideration economic and industrial outcomes for Canada, including related to sovereign unmanned systems,” the government report said.