Canada to Spend $5.0Bil on AEW Aircraft (Saab Globaleye)
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Phoenix is a wonderful payroll system that government employees just luv!
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Canada to order military planes fleet from Sweden (The Guardian. Might be 6 airplanes)
Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers
Mark Carney announces purchase of Saab’s GlobalEye early warning aircraft to patrol Arctic territory
Reuters in Ottawa
Wed 27 May 2026 16.58 BST
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.
Members of Canada's Navy prepare to test a new drone in harsh Arctic conditions. Beginning running from mid February until March 9 2025, Operation Nanook is Canada’s sprawling military exercise in hostile theatre of the Arctic. The operation, conducted alongside allies from the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden and Finland, reflects an aim to both “project force” in the Arctic, but also to sustain that force amid frigid conditions.
Canadian military flies the flag in frozen north as struggle for the Arctic heats up
“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.
© 2026 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)
Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers
Mark Carney announces purchase of Saab’s GlobalEye early warning aircraft to patrol Arctic territory
Reuters in Ottawa
Wed 27 May 2026 16.58 BST
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.
Members of Canada's Navy prepare to test a new drone in harsh Arctic conditions. Beginning running from mid February until March 9 2025, Operation Nanook is Canada’s sprawling military exercise in hostile theatre of the Arctic. The operation, conducted alongside allies from the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden and Finland, reflects an aim to both “project force” in the Arctic, but also to sustain that force amid frigid conditions.
Canadian military flies the flag in frozen north as struggle for the Arctic heats up
“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.
© 2026 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)
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Not the first, won’t be the last. The one has potential to minimize if not effectively zero the gap between politics and operational capability requirements, especially if AAR is an included capability (although I’d like to see the data on how often USAF/NORAD E-3As tank, and if it is really needed if endurance is there and there are enough airframes to provide rotation anyway…it’s not like we’re going to launch a plane and tank it until the engines’ oil and crew day runs out…). Did I miss something as well, do our Hornets have MADL? JTIDS/MIDS seems to work fine, if MADL isn’t released to one of the NORAD partner nations…….
Pretty sure “ABMs’ feelings” aren’t one of the HLMRs.
We're paying the NRE to make the baseline airframe (pre-missionization) AAR capable as part of the VVIP acquisition.
The Panthers use MADL. As does the E-7. Substantially more bandwidth and better security than Link 16.
I have some ABM buddies who live in fear of getting posted to North Bay. Even a joke gets me death stares.
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There you go.
Yes. Yes. Yes. But is MADL either a current (we know it’s not) or future HLMR for AEW? More bandwidth…excellent…good thing we don’t have to worry about presence, use and dependency on the spectrum with A2AD in play…
They can always do weekend shopping/sanity trips to Ottawa…
Oldgateboatdriver
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With 412 in Ottawa, it's brasier to justify a trip to Ottawa
It should be. Of course, the project will never release HLMRs publicly. But keep in mind, there was no competition. This was directed sole source. So maybe Cabinet is willing to sacrifice some HLMRs for geopolitical advantage.
LPI. And a lot more spread spectrum. Along with directional beam forming antennas. Not your father's datalink.
Using Link 16 brings us much closer to the danger you're inferring.
I have an ABM friend of Asian descent. Did monthly grocery hauls to T&T in the GTA from North Bay. Posted to Ottawa. Moved 15 mins from T&T. Lol
Traffic.
Oldgateboatdriver
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Oh! Wait! You was serious!!!
There's traffic in Ottawa too, if you've ever been there at rush hour. In Toronto there is traffic because of the volume of vehicles. in Ottawa, there is traffic because the friggin' road system was designed by a four year old doing doodling in the corner of a piece of paper.
PrairieFella
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Winnipeg certainly makes sense too with North Bay. Spreads the asset around a bit and its a nice, central location. Lots of room at 17 Wing to grow too.
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Can I ask the question- why would these planes not be stationed in the same location as our fighter planes?
If the range of their radars is only 800ish km, why station them so far away from where the fighters are based.
There was a recce few months ago. North Bay is the preferred option afaik. Since a third of the ABM trade is there and the school house is there. The plan was to build an annex with hangars away from the main aprons (for security). I haven't heard anything about buying the whole airport. Winnipeg is the second choice. It's a bit crowded.
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Griffon enters the chat.CA to RCAF after LSVW procurement...
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Should…could, should, would, didn’t…
Actually…one of my father’s PhD students worked on LPI DLs for high value low density platforms. And my term project on EE529 was E/F and I/J band beam-forming for LPI/LPD comms, and there’s only so much b/w you can pull out of the slice of spectrum you have with your hop rate and channel separation.
Pretty sure you know the answer to this, but so the others appreciate why MADL isn’t a panacea and JTIDS/MIDS isn’t real yet….
Q?: what TDL is used to to help platforms that use incompatible IFDL and MADL to semi (the IFDL platform can only receive from the MADL platform, MADL can both rx from and rx to the IFDL
Platform) communicate?
Ahhhh….Pacific Mall…
I appreciate that. Even then, just saying, the options are straight forward here. L16 or MADL. And one is distinctly better. That same one is also going on our new ships and fighters.
On bandwidth, the difference is of course, night and day. Difference between dial up and cable internet.
Obviously some kind of BACN'esque functionality. Which the AEW can do if properly equipped. The question is if it will be.
