In an unusual procurement decision, Canada has chosen a Swedish system for its new early warning aircraft over Boeing’s troubled E-7 Wedgetail system. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Wednesday that the RCAF will be equipped with Saab’s Global Eye, which is mounted on a modified Bombardier Global 6500 business jet. Boeing’s Wedgetail is mated to a Boeing 737 MAX airframe. “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 said.
It’s also a new capability for Canada, which has relied on its partnership with the U.S. military for this kind of surveillance, particularly in the Arctic, where Canada has almost two million square miles of territory to defend. Carney announced in March that Canada would be taking over responsibility for monitoring Arctic airspace and the vast territory and ocean under it. It has already bought advanced over-the-horizon radar equipment from Australia and will choose between South Korean and German submarines for patrolling the northern waters as it actively moves away from dependence on the U.S. in light of recent trade and political tiffs with Washington.
Earlier this year, the European Union announced it too would buy the Saab system to replace NATO’s fleet of E-3 Advanced Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, based on the 60-year-old variation of a Boeing 707. But not even the U.S. military is sold on the Wedgetail. Cost overruns and delays prompted the Pentagon to suspend purchase of a fleet of Wedgetails for the Air Force to take over from its retiring E-3s. The Pentagon had thought that it could replace the AWACS with drones and satellite surveillance, but the usefulness of the old Boeings in the war with Iran has prompted military leaders to rethink that plan.
The giant Swedish company is also a contender to supply fighter aircraft to Canada. The Gripen was earlier rejected as inferior to the F-35A, of which Canada has tentatively committed to buy to replace 88 aging CF-18 Hornets. Canada has only paid for 16 of the fifth-generation fighters and is not contractually obligated to buy the other 72. The tensions with the U.S. prompted the Canadian government to back off on committing to the whole order and Saab has been lobbying relentlessly for a piece of that business, including building the Gripens in Canada with no sovereignty strings attached. It’s not clear when a decision might be made, but Saab announced Thursday that if Canada buys its airplanes, it will not only build the Canadian planes in Canada but an order for Ukraine will be filled by the Canadian plant.
Our country, our North, our polar bears, our choice.
Canada, don’t give up on us yet. This will be over sometime, and we love you still.
Seems like a reasonable decision to me.
Roger, I share your respect for Canada. However, nearly half of our electorate voted the current problem in, and they did it twice. Granted there were no good choices to make in either case.
The majority of current public school graduates in the U.S. have substandard reading and thinking skills. I’m not sure that the situation is recoverable.
Elections have consequences and morons who voted for this love it. Canadians love socialism and can’t wait to be at the bottom of the world’s gdp. It is already mostly the lowest in North America. And parts of canada yes you east coasters are at the very bottom.
Enjoy your circus, carneys
Ouch Boeing, that’s gotta hurt. Good choice Canada.
Now, maybe take another look at that fine Swedish fighter where you get to control everything and expand the work force in Canada to build them.
Expected.
O.K. Let’s see how this works out.
The “troubled E-7” has been doing fine in the Royal Australian Air Force for years now.