Swedish firm SAAB’s plan to build GlobalEye surveillance aircraft and Gripen fighters in Canada links a 13,000-job offer directly to the new Canadian-Swedish Strategic Partnership and to Ottawa’s unsettled decisions on P-8A Poseidons and F-35 fighters.
At the core of the push is SAAB’s commitment to build the entire GlobalEye airborne early warning and control platform in Canada if the Department of National Defence orders it, replacing today’s model where Bombardier’s 6000-series jet is assembled at Toronto-Pearson, flown to Linköping in Sweden, stripped down and rebuilt with radar and sensors.
Senior sales director David Moden said the Canadian build would create 3,000 jobs and deliver what he called “a made-in-Canada solution” through local sensor installation, aircraft maintenance and development work.
GlobalEye’s airframe and sensor package give SAAB concrete performance numbers to sell alongside its employment claims. The platform is based on a long-range business jet from Bombardier and is far smaller than Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon from Boeing, yet its radar is described as capable of detecting aircraft, missiles or drones at ranges up to 650 kilometres and of identifying ground targets such as tanks and sea targets including submarine periscopes that break the surface.
The GlobalEye offer sits atop SAAB’s earlier Gripen proposal, which is framed around 10,000 new Canadian jobs if Ottawa orders the fighter and allows full Canadian production. Saab has been explicit that it is looking for foreign partners because its Linköping plant cannot double or triple output on its own as new orders arrive.
The aircraft has an additional geopolitical dimension in this pitch, since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants 100 to 150 Gripens, and a Canadian factory “almost certainly” in Ontario or Quebec is described as a possible source of jets for Ukraine alongside Royal Canadian Air Force requirements.
These offers collide with existing Canadian procurement tracks. In 2023, then defence minister Bill Blair announced a plan to buy up to 16 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft for about $10.4-billion to replace CP-140 Auroras. The P-8A is based on a twin engine 737 Next Generation passenger jet and is optimized for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, while GlobalEye is positioned as a long range aircraft detection and tracking platform that layers on ground and sea surveillance.
On the fighter side, Canada previously shortlisted SAAB’s Gripen to replace the CF-18 but ultimately selected the F-35 from Lockheed Martin. Ottawa ordered 88 F-35s, yet has paid for only 16 aircraft, leaving 72 airframes under formal review since Mark Carney became prime minister in March.
None of the F-35s will be built in Canada and no Canadian firm is a prime contractor, though about 30 Canadian companies supply parts into the global F-35 program. SAAB is using that contrast to underscore that both Gripen and GlobalEye would anchor Canadian engineering, development, and production jobs rather than limiting participation to the supply chain.
The political and strategic backdrop for SAAB’s campaign is the Canadian-Swedish Strategic Partnership released, which lays out five pillars across economic development, security and defence, Arctic cooperation, digital and scientific innovation, and climate and energy.
The security and defence pillar specifically highlights defence industrial cooperation in land, air and maritime domains, defence materiel cooperation, joint test and evaluation, common capability development, joint procurement, defence logistics support and security of supply. SAAB’s proposals fit directly into that template by tying aircraft orders to technology transfer, Canadian based assembly and a shared approach to lifecycle enhancement.
SAAB timed its intensified push to the royal visit by King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, which occurred from Tuesday through Thursday this week. Their delegation included senior Saab executives, Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson, Swedish Industry Minister Ebba Busch and representatives of about 60 Swedish companies.
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