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A Saab Gripen E-series fighter aircraft in Linkoping, Sweden, in October, during a display for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The company’s CEO confirms it is in talks to build the jet in Canada.JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images
Saab AB chief executive officer Micael Johansson confirmed on Thursday that his company is in talks with the federal government and Bombardier Inc. BBD-B-T to build Saab’s Gripen fighter jet under licence in Canada, which he said could create 10,000 jobs in the country and spawn a research network to develop other aircraft, including drones.
“If Canada wants to create sovereign capabilities, not only buying planes, we are prepared to do that tech transfer for Canada,” Mr. Johansson said in an interview at Saab AB’s headquarters in Stockholm. “We are talking collaboration.”
The talks are to continue Nov. 18 to Nov. 20 during the royal visit of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia to Canada. Their entourage is to include senior Saab executives, the country’s Defence Minister, Pal Jonson, Industry Minister Ebba Busch and representatives of some 60 Swedish companies.
In an interview, Mr. Jonson confirmed that he will be meeting with his Canadian counterpart, David McGuinty, as well as Bombardier CEO Éric Martel.
He said that Sweden’s small size means that it doesn’t have the capabilities to pump out Gripens in great quantities as new orders arrive.
“We’re not looking for clients, we’re looking for partners,” he said. “For us, being a smaller country, it is vital for us to share maintaining the cost of that [Gripen] platform and enhancing it during its lifecycle span.”
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SAAB CEO Micael Johansson.JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images
The 10,000 jobs would be created from the Gripen’s final assembly and from the supply of components. “There will be research and development centres also,” Mr. Johansson said.
Canada has already ordered 88 F-35 stealth fighters from Lockheed Martin of the U.S., but has paid for only 16 of them. Mark Carney put the rest of the order under review shortly after he became Prime Minister in March.
Saab’s desire to find another Gripen production location intensified last month, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson signed a letter of intent for Ukraine’s purchase of 100 to 150 Gripen “E” series, the most advanced version of the jet. Mr. Johannson said it was “absolutely” possible for Canada to build the plane for both Ukraine and the Royal Canadian Air Force.
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Neither Mr. Johansson nor Mr. Jonson would confirm that Saab’s negotiations with Bombardier were close to a firm deal, but there were suggestions that the talks were progressing well. The King and Queen are scheduled to visit a Bombardier factory in Montreal, where the interiors of the company’s business jets are designed and installed.
At the same time, Saab and Bombardier are examining possible sites to build the Gripen, since the Bombardier factories in Montreal and at Toronto’s Pearson airport, where the Bombardier 6000 and 6500 series and Challenger business jets are made, do not have ample spare capacity.
“You are definitely looking at a new factory somewhere,” Mr. Johnansson said. “We assume that we will have to build something new.”
Ontario has already begun its lobbying campaign to try to secure as much Gripen work as possible. Development Minister Vic Fedeli recently visited Sweden, where he met with Saab deputy CEO Anders Carp.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Fedeli said, “If incentives are required, we could consider them,” referring to potential sweeteners to persuade Saab and Bombardier to assemble the planes in Ontario.
Building the Gripen in Canada would present political and economic dilemmas for the government and the military.
A senior source in Ottawa close to the Saab-Bombardier talks said Mr. Carney is worried about “retaliation” from U.S. President Donald Trump if the rest of the F-35 order – 72 aircraft – is cancelled.
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He said that Canada would perhaps buy 32 to 40 F-35s and add 60 to 70 of the non-stealth, though far cheaper, Gripens to the RCAF fleet. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The source added that many senior military and procurement officials in the Department of National Defence oppose running a dual fleet – F-35s and Gripens – because of the expense of maintaining two aircraft laden with sophisticated software, electronics and weapons systems, plus training two sets of pilots and engineers.
But many of the biggest NATO countries run dual fleets. Italy, for instance, flies F-35s and the Eurofighter Typhoon, as does Britain.
Saab already has a close ties to Bombardier. The Saab GlobalEye surveillance jet, equipped with a radar that can spot planes or missiles 450 kilometres away, is based on Bombardier’s large business jets that are built at Pearson. They are fitted with advanced radar and air-to-ground surveillance systems in Sweden.
Canada is considering buying the GlobalEye. Mr. Johansson would not confirm the rumours the government is on the verge of ordering six of the aircraft. “I would love that to be true,” he said.
He said that Saab has also formed relationships with Quebec’s CAE Inc., which makes flights simulators for training, and IMP Group of Halifax, whose aerospace and defence business makes aerostructures, electronics and has an aircraft-maintenance division.
