The New Fighter Aircraft Project (NFA) was a Government of Canada defence procurement project undertaken in the late 1970s that saw the Department of National Defence (DND) select a single new fighter jet to replace the fleets of CF-101 Voodoo, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-116 Freedom Fighter aircraft in the Canadian Forces.

Several aircraft were considered for the project, which led to some internal friction among federal government procurement staff as different aircraft were favoured among different departments. Despite several changes of government, and after a somewhat contentious selection process starting on 17 March 1977, the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet was selected as the winner of the NFA project on 10 April 1980. Designated the CF-18 Hornet by Canadian Forces Air Command (now called the Royal Canadian Air Force), a total of 138 aircraft were delivered between 1982 and 1988.

Air resources within the Canadian Forces had suffered from a long period of neglect and downsizing during the late 1960s and early 1970s that led to the aging of much of their military equipment. In the early 1970s the government came under increasing pressure from its NATO allies to redress this imbalance. This period came to an end in November 1975 after the governing Liberal Party of Canada's tenth National Convention saw a policy reversing defence budget cutbacks in the early 1970s and the beginning of a modernization process across the entire Canadian Forces structure; this followed a decision in September 1975 that saw all air resources within the Canadian Forces merged into a new entity called Air Command (AIRCOM). As there had been little military capital expenditure over the prior five years, modernizing the forces would be an expensive process. In order to lower fiscal spending for the ambitious program, a series of individual procurement projects were proposed to be spread out over the five-year period from 1977 to 1982.

During the 1970s, the Canadian Forces was tasked with four primary military duties; air defence of North America as part of NORAD, anti-submarine and related duties in the North Atlantic as part of NATO, a small role within the overall land-force structure of NATO in Western Europe, and the specialist role of reinforcing Norway with one brigade and all required air, sea and other support that might be needed for that mission (collectively known as "CAST"). With the exception of air transport, equipment for all of these tasks was deemed to be lacking.

Six procurement projects became the initial focus of the late 1970s upgrade process. For Maritime Command (MARCOM) a new "Long Range Patrol Aircraft Project" (LRPA) would dramatically increase their anti-submarine capabilities, while a new "Patrol Frigate Project" would supplement the recently procured and extremely capable Iroquois-class destroyer. Force Mobile Command needed a new main battle tank to replace the outdated Centurion as well as new command and logistics vehicles. Force Mobile Command also identified the need for a new tactical ground attack aircraft to support Canada's ground forces in Western Europe, while the newly created Air Command needed a new aircraft to replace their somewhat motley collection of increasingly dated fighter and interceptor aircraft. Inter-service priorities were quickly decided.

First up was the Long Range Patrol Aircraft Project (LRPA), eventually filled by the Lockheed CP-140 Aurora, a modified version of the P-3 Orion. Problems that arose during the LRPA project were particularly worrying for the other procurement initiatives. The LRPA project had initially settled on the Orion in November 1975, however, the project was cancelled in May 1976, before being re-instated at a later date. In 1978 the Minister of Supply and Services, Jean-Pierre Goyer, stated that he had been deliberately misled on the topic, a claim that led to a slander lawsuit. A breakdown in communications between the various departments led to the budget request being $300 million smaller than was needed in startup costs, delaying service entry. Adding to the LRPA project's woes, the procurement procedure resulted in the addition of various "required features" that led to the aircraft's sensor suite being modified at considerable expense, a problem known in military circles as "gold plating".

The need for a new high-performance fighter was next on the list of priorities for the government's Department of National Defence (DND). With the problems in the LRPA project still ongoing, it was imperative that the NFA project avoid these issues at all costs. There was serious concern that the DND would be considered incapable of handling its newly increased budget if problems resulting from the LRPA project continued. In this case, they might be stripped of their direction over the purchasing process, or at least face a shake up within the ranks. Immediately following the NFA project would be the new Canadian Patrol Frigate Project (CPF), and if the NFA project ran into the same sorts of problems as the LRPA project, the CPF project would likely suffer from budgetary constraints, downsizing, or potential cancellation.

In order to avoid these possibilities, DND put into place a number of new policies for the NFA project aimed at ensuring the established budget would be followed. For one, the NFA project demanded that whatever aircraft was selected would have to be completely "off the shelf", in order to avoid "gold plating" problems that had driven up the price of the LRPA. Additionally, the NFA project would request a budget that included all costs; training, spares, even the 12% import taxes that would have to be paid to the federal Department of Finance and any similar fees that might have to be paid to the foreign government to offset research and development they had spent on the program.