Saab offers 72 Gripen fighters and six GlobalEye aircraft to Canada amid F-35 review.

On January 14, 2026, CBC News reported that Saab has submitted a proposal to Canada covering 72 Gripen fighter aircraft and six GlobalEye airborne early warning platforms, a proposal that could support an estimated 12,600 Canadian jobs.

On January 14, 2026, CBC News reported that Saab has submitted a proposal to Canada covering 72 Gripen fighter jets and six GlobalEye airborne early warning platforms. The company stated that the purchase of this joint package could support an estimated 12,600 Canadian jobs. The proposal is being reviewed as Canada reassesses its planned F-35 fleet and evaluates defence procurement options based on operational and industrial criteria.
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The Gripen and GlobalEye complement each other by pairing a fighter that conducts interception and strike tasks with a surveillance and control aircraft that extends detection range and provides commanders with a broader operational picture. (Picture source: Saab)

Saab's new proposal to Canada includes the sale of 72 Gripen fighter jets and six GlobalEye airborne surveillance aircraft, an order size that the company says would generate or guarantee up to 12,600 jobs in Canada, an offer now examined as the country reassesses its future combat aircraft mix and the domestic industrial impact linked to large defense programs. The proposal also clarifies that both aircraft types are required to reach the stated employment figure, after earlier public references to roughly 10,000 potential jobs had not specified the volume of aircraft needed. The offer enters a policy environment where defense procurement, either from Lockheed Martin or Saab, is being weighed by Canada not only against operational needs but also against employment distribution and industrial resilience.

Deployable from shorter runways and with a logistics concept oriented toward rapid turnaround, the Gripen E’s combined attributes would provide Canada with a multirole fighter capable of air defence, joint operations, and interoperability with allied forces across the country's large geographic areas. This 4.5-generation fighter jet, capable of Mach 2 speeds, possesses a Raven ES-05 radar and an infrared search and track sensor that provide continuous target detection and tracking, while onboard avionics share information across units in near real time, enhancing situational awareness and coordination with other platforms such as the GlobalEye. Furthermore, with up to ten external hardpoints for a wide mix of NATO weapons, including beyond-visual-range missiles and precision guided munitions, the Gripen would allow Canada to perform air-to-air, air-to-surface, and anti-ship roles.

Based on the Canadian Bombardier Global Express jet, the Saab GlobalEye airborne early warning and control aircraft would fill a capability gap for Canada, providing a persistent airborne node for integrated air and maritime awareness and enhancing coordination with allied surveillance networks. Integrating an Erieye ER radar system mounted on the fuselage, the GlobalEye can detect and track airborne and surface targets at distances of up to about 450 km or more at altitude, with an endurance of up to about eleven hours. In addition to its primary AEW radar, the GlobalEye carries a Seaspray 7500E maritime surveillance radar for surface tracking, while its multi-sensor suite enables simultaneous surveillance of air, sea, and land targets. Therefore, the GlobalEye’s extended range and persistence could make it well-suited for monitoring Canada’s vast northern and maritime approaches, where terrestrial radar coverage is limited by geography and curvature of the Earth.

This new Gripen and GlobalEye package is being reviewed alongside Canada’s existing plan to acquire 88 F-35 fighters, ordered in 2022 with total costs now estimated at more than $27 billion. Canada is preparing to receive the first 16 F-35 aircraft starting this year, while the remainder of the order remains under review, with no confirmed decision to date on whether the total number will be reduced or maintained. Like other countries, the potential introduction of a second fighter type raises practical questions in Canada related to training, sustainment, and the simultaneous integration of two new fleets into service structures already under pressure. However, Saab’s industrial proposal for the Gripen in Canada would see final assembly, integration, test operations, and sustainment carried out with Canadian partners, including IMP Aerospace, GE Aviation, CAE, and Peraton. By building aircraft domestically, with facilities planned in Ontario and Quebec, Canada would also gain greater control over sustainment, upgrades, and supply chain timing, potentially reducing reliance on foreign suppliers.

The industrial component of the offer centers on producing aircraft in Canada for both national use and export markets, with planned production centers in Ontario and Quebec supported by a pan-Canadian supplier network. Saab has linked this structure to more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs over time, with GlobalEye aircraft produced in partnership with Bombardier using the Global 6500 business jet as the base platform for airborne early warning and control missions. Saab has also pointed to external demand, including Ukraine, which marked its interest in more than 100 Gripen aircraft and potential GlobalEye customers in Egypt, France, and Germany. On the other hand, Lockheed Martin’s position is that maintaining the full 88-aircraft F-35 order would generate $15 billion in work for Canada, with discussions between the company and the Canadian government continuing during the review period. At the moment, Canada evaluates the credibility, scale, and long-term sustainability of job and supplier commitments associated with each option.

The debate unfolds against a backdrop of rising defense expenditure, with Canadian defense spending expected to increase by $82 billion over the next five years and the federal government seeking to maximize domestic economic returns from that growth. The appointment of Christiane Fox as deputy minister at the Department of National Defence has been interpreted in Ottawa as a signal of a shift in procurement approach. At the same time, concerns have been raised that aircraft fleet size and composition should be determined primarily by military requirements, including the question of whether Swedish-built Gripen aircraft could be fully integrated into NORAD-linked defense systems if Canada retained only a limited number of F-35s.

Public opinion adds political context, with an Ekos survey showing 43% support for acquiring a Gripen fleet and 29% support for a mixed Gripen and F-35 fleet, while a single-fleet F-35 option attracted 13% support nationally. Support for Gripen-only peaked at 49% in British Columbia, while support for a mixed fleet was strongest in Quebec at 35%, and regional backing for an all-F-35 fleet remained lowest in Quebec and British Columbia at 9%. Partisan differences were also evident, with single-fleet F-35 support highest among Conservative voters and Gripen or mixed options leading among Liberal, NDP, and Green supporters, reinforcing that the current review reopens a choice Canada formally settled in 2023 when it selected the F-35 after a competition that assessed capability, cost, and economic benefits.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.