OTTAWA — In a major move aimed at boosting domestic production and reducing reliance on the United States defense industry, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada has entered formal negotiations to procure the “GlobalEye”—an advanced aerial surveillance system developed by Swedish defense firm Saab. The Prime Minister shared the development during a keynote address at CANSEC, Canada’s largest defense and security trade exposition.
The cutting-edge Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) radar system will be integrated onto the Global 6500 business jet, manufactured by Canadian aerospace giant Bombardier. Under the proposed framework, at least one-third of the global production fleet—amounting to over 40 aircraft, including orders bound for international allies—will be manufactured directly at Bombardier’s facilities in Montreal and Toronto over the next 15 years. The federal government estimates the deal will inject massive momentum into the domestic economy, generating more than 3,000 highly skilled jobs across Canadian aerospace engineering, manufacturing, and computing fields.
According to defense sources, the Department of National Defence aims to secure six GlobalEye systems in a procurement package valued at upwards of $5 billion. Strategically, the radar platforms will play a pivotal role in strengthening Arctic security, allowing the Canadian Armed Forces to detect, track, and deter potential multi-domain threats up to 650 kilometers away. The decision essentially shuts the door on American-made alternatives, specifically Boeing’s E-7A Wedgetail, which the military had previously evaluated.
This procurement pivot is the latest implementation of the Carney government’s new Defense Industrial Strategy (DIS), which prioritizes assigning 70% of defense contracts to domestic firms to halt the flow of military funds south of the border. This focus on domestic autonomy follows international trends, as the NATO Support and Procurement Agency and European nations like France, Germany, Denmark, and Finland have also expressed active interest in the joint Saab-Bombardier platform to phase out aging Boeing E-3A fleets.
However, the shift toward European defense partnerships has noticeably strained traditional U.S.-Canada security relations. Signaling deepening diplomatic friction, Washington recently dissolved the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, a long-standing bilateral military cooperation framework. Tensions have been further amplified by Ottawa’s recent decision to review its planned multi-billion-dollar acquisition of Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets to explore Swedish-built Saab Gripen fighters instead, as Canada aggressively seeks contracts that promise deeper assembly and maintenance roots on Canadian soil.
