Canada has announced plans to buy a fleet of early warning planes from Sweden’s Saab rather than a competing option from Boeing, as the country seeks to reduce reliance on US defense firms.
Mark Carney, the prime minister, said on Wednesday that Canada would opt for Saab’s GlobalEye, which is based on Bombardier’s Global 6500 jet. Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail plane – which has suffered from delays and cost overruns – had also been in contention.
“With a suite of advanced sensors and mission systems, Saab’s GlobalEye will be a key resource for the Canadian armed forces to detect and deter threats across the Arctic,” Carney told a defense conference in Ottawa.
The prime minister pledged in March that Canada would take full responsibility for protecting its vast Arctic territory, after relying on decades on a partnership with the US to monitor its more than 4.4m sq km (1.7m sq miles) of land and sea, a territory larger than India.
In a statement, Saab said it planned to invest in research and development work in Canada as part of any deal.
Although Carney did not give details of the fleet size or the cost of a potential contract, military officials had earlier said they were looking to buy six early warning aircraft.
Philippe Lagasse, associate director of international affairs at Ottawa’s Carleton University, said Canada’s decision to buy the GlobalEye planes was “an important test case for the Carney government’s policy of pivoting away from American military capability”.
He said in a statement that the decision confirmed Canada’s relationship with Sweden, a new Nato ally that had also been keen to strengthen its ties to the Canadian military.
Canada has previously said it is keen to work more closely with the Nordic countries in the Arctic on defense and other issues, in a global environment where the US has become a less reliable partner.
“GlobalEye is already creating jobs in Canada, and working with the Canadian supply chain. This decision ties our two nations even closer together,” the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said in a social media post.
Saab is also in the running to sell Canada some of its Gripen fighters. Canada has a deal to buy 88 F-35 jets from Lockheed-Martin, but last year, after the US slapped tariffs on key Canadian imports, Carney asked the military to investigate whether it could cut back the order and buy some planes from another manufacturer.
