Canada is quietly sizing up a fighter fleet far larger than anything it has publicly committed to, potentially 140 aircraft, combining Lockheed Martin F-35s with Saab Gripen-E jets built on Canadian soil.
CBC News reported the figure, citing sources with direct knowledge of discussions between Saab and Ottawa. “There could easily be a fleet of 140 aircraft,” one of those sources said.
Even in a scenario where both types proceed, Ottawa is still eyeing 72 to 88 F-35s. The Gripen side of the equation would add another 72 aircraft, manufactured in Canada. Sources say that contract alone would be the largest defence industrial project in Canadian history, supporting up to 9,000 jobs.
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For context in terms of scale, Canada once flew 138 CF-18s in the 1980s. The Canadian Armed Forces now confirm fewer than 88 of those jets remain in service, without being more specific.
The industrial logic is inseparable from the diplomatic one. Prime Minister Mark Carney launched a review of the F-35 purchase in March last year, which was triggered by trade and diplomatic tensions with the Trump administration. Ottawa has since made clear that military spending must benefit Canada’s tariff-affected industrial sector.
Sources say Carney could also use the fate of the F-35 program as a bargaining chip in CUSMA renewal talks. The final call on fighter jets, sources add, rests firmly with him.
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2 Responses
I was thinking 40-45 F 35s and 75-80 Gripens just for the maintenance, down time, climate control hangers and cost associated with the F 35. This makes the Gripen a far more practical air craft for Canada’s need’s with a much lower costs to operate.
Canada will not purchase all 88 F35’s if we do the Gripen deal. The 72 and 72 numbers are even not believable. I could see the F35 purchase getting truncated to between 45 and 54 dependong on if both Bagotville and Cold Lake are MOBs foe the F35. The gejpen negates rhe need for regular interdiction and air policing and reduces the necessity to rotate the F35 through the FOLs. A high/low capability allows for specialization. It has always been absurd to use the F35 as a workhorse fighter the way we used the F18. My bet is it ends up at 48 and 72 with some F’s made in Brazil and some Europe bound jets made here.