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Saab’s GlobalEye proposal comes on top of its previous pitch to create Canadian jobs if Ottawa buys the Gripen fighter jet, shown here in Lindköping, Sweden, last week.Felix Odell/The Globe and Mail
Swedish defence company Saab is intensifying its campaign to secure Canadian aircraft sales by offering to build the entire GlobalEye military surveillance plane in Canada if the Department of National Defence orders it.
In an interview at the Saab factory in Linköping, in southern Sweden, David Moden, senior sales director for the GlobalEye, said that building the entire aircraft in Canada would create 3,000 jobs. “We are offering a made-in-Canada solution by building and installing the plane’s sensors there,” he said.
The GlobalEye is based on Bombardier’s 6000-series long-range business jet, which is assembled at Toronto’s Pearson airport. The plane, minus its interior fittings, is flown to Linköping, where it is completely stripped down and rebuilt into an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) plane with an array of highly sophisticated radar and sensors.
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David Moden, senior sales director for the GlobalEye, poses in front of the Gripen on Nov. 14.Felix Odell/The Globe and Mail
Saab’s offer would see the company transfer the technology to Canada. The jobs created, he said, would include those in aircraft maintenance and development.
This offer comes on top of Saab’s previous pitch to generate 10,000 new Canadian jobs if DND were to buy the Saab Gripen fighter jet, which would be entirely built in Canada. Saab is looking for foreign partners to build the aircraft as new orders arrive because the Linköping factory lacks the capacity to double or triple construction rates.
As previously reported in The Globe and Mail, Saab is in talks with Bombardier BBD-B-T and the Canadian government to build the Gripen in Canada, almost certainly at a new factory in Ontario or Quebec. The new factory could also make Gripens for Ukraine, whose President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said he wants 100 to 150 of the jets.
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The GlobalEye military surveillance plane is based on Bombardier’s 6000-series long-range business jet.Supplied
Canada is in the market for new military surveillance jets to replace the old CP-140 Aurora aircraft. In 2023, then-defence minister Bill Blair announced that Canada would purchase up to 16 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft for about $10.4-billion. The plane is based on Boeing’s twin-engine 737 Next Gen passenger jet.
It’s not known whether DND would buy the GlobalEye as well, though it and the Poseidon planes have different mission profiles. The Poseidon focuses on anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare; the GlobalEye is a long-range aircraft detection and tracking machine.
But Canada is keen on developing advanced-technology research, engineering and construction jobs, which Saab is offering to provide if Ottawa buys the GlobalEye or the Gripen or both.
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The GlobalEye, which is far smaller than the Poseidon, has been ordered by the United Arab Emirates and Sweden, and may be bought by France. Its radar is capable of detecting aircraft, missiles or drones as far as 650 kilometres away. It can also detect – and identify – objects on the ground, such as tanks, and on the sea, including submarine periscopes that break the sea surface.
“The sensors and the radar are the best in the world,” said Weston Pike, the Canadian pilot who is the GlobalEye’s flight test engineer. “You can see everything happening in the air, the ground and on the seas. It can give you complete area intelligence.”
The Gripen made Canada’s short list several years ago to replace the aging CF-18 fighter jets. The winner was Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth jet. Canada ordered 88 of the highly expensive aircraft, but has paid for only 16 of them. None of them would be built in Canada, though some 30 Canadian companies supply the aircraft with parts. None is considered a prime contractor for the aircraft.
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Weston Pike, flight test engineer for the Saab GlobalEye, says the plane’s sensors and radar are the ‘best in the world.’Felix Odell/The Globe and Mail
The purchase of the remaining 72 aircraft was put under review by Mark Carney shortly he became Prime Minister in March. The review has yet to be published.
It is broadly known that the Royal Canadian Air Force favours the F-35 and is wary of running a dual fleet of fighters. But the promise of thousands of new jobs, and building a military aerospace engineering, development and supply chain that can feed the export market, has tempted some cabinet ministers, including Industry Minister Mélanie Joly.
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A Gripen flight simulator is shown in November. Several years ago, the aircraft made Canada’s shortlist of possible CF-18 replacements.Felix Odell/The Globe and Mail
Saab will extend its sales pitch for both aircraft Tuesday through Thursday of this week during the royal visit of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia to Canada. Their entourage is to include senior Saab executives, Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson, Swedish Industry Minister Ebba Busch and representatives of some 60 Swedish companies.
In an interview in Stockholm last week, 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.”
