While preliminary, the move cements Saab’s position as frontrunner for the Canadian AEW&C requirement and increases the possibility of Ottawa purchasing Gripen fighters.
Canada has announced that Swedish airframer Saab is the country’s preferred supplier for a new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
Prime Minister Mark Carney revealed the choice at the annual CANSEC defence and security trade show in Ottawa on 27 May.
“With our new strategy, we are building our economy and creating careers in the skilled trades, science and engineering,” Carney says. “The GlobalEye procurement will help us secure our north and build our economy at once.”
The Carney government has rolled out a new approach to defence procurement, prioritising domestic production and industrial development. Ottawa has also embarked on a generational increase to defence spending, with a multi-billion dollar recapitalisation of the air force at its centre.
Although preferred supplier status does not guarantee that Saab will ultimately prevail in the competitive effort, it does cement the European manufacturer as the frontrunner. US defence contractor L3Harris is also competing for the tender via its Canadian subsidiary MAS.
“We welcome Canada’s decision to enter into discussions with Saab as the preferred supplier of the future Canadian AEW&C capability,” says Micael Johansson, chief executive of Saab.
The company is bidding its GlobalEye platform, which is housed in a Canadian-assembled Bombardier Global 6500 business jet equipped with military sensors and communications. At the centre of the GlobalEye design is Saab’s Erieye ER active electronically scanned array radar, which is housed within a canoe-like fairing mounted above the fuselage.
The non-rotating sensor offers jam-resistant, long-range detection, according to Saab, including of low-observable, stealth aircraft and smaller targets like drones and ballistic missiles.
As part of its pitch to Ottawa, Saab has notably offered local production of the GlobalEye in Canada, which has a robust domestic aerospace industry centred around Montreal.
The prime minister’s office says the current framework being discussed with Saab would see at least one-third of the projected worldwide GlobalEye fleet manufactured in Canada over the next 15 years, representing at least 40 aircraft.
“GlobalEye offers proven capability for the Royal Canadian Air Force, sovereign ownership for Canada and comprehensive and skilled work for Canadian industry,” says Saab’s Johansson.
Bombardier is also praising the move, revealing on 27 May it is in talks with Saab to lead the Global 6500 modification programme for the Canadian AEW&C aircraft and to lead Canada’s industrial role in offering an export variant.
“All to maximise Canada’s long-term benefits from this strategic purchase,” Bombardier says. “We have the expertise, we have a longstanding and successful relationship with Saab, and we have decades of experience delivering and modifying aircraft for the world’s most demanding missions.”
Against the GlobalEye, L3Harris is pitching its Aeris X platform – another Global 6500-based AEW&C jet that has been selected by South Korea and another undisclosed customer.
L3Harris tells FlightGlobal its aircraft has the advantage of providing continuous 360° radar coverage – something the standard GlobalEye configuration does not offer.
“It’s actually really slick how it works,” Jason Lambert, president of ISR for L3Harris, told FlightGlobal in April. “Rather than have a single radar that does the 360, we have S-band radars in an extended nose and tail, and we have L-band in the side cheeks with a software package that runs on a loop. So you’re getting constant 360° coverage, all software driven.”
Saab is reportedly developing its own solution for full-scope radar visibility on the GlobalEye, whose Erieye ER AESA radar offers 120° of sensor coverage on either side of the aircraft – thus requiring manoeuvring to achieve full coverage.
For its unsuccessful offer to South Korea, Saab bolstered GlobalEye with additional sensors mounted on the fuselage to provide 360° radar scanning, indicating that capability can be achieved.
Both the GlobalEye and Aeris X are also competing for a separate AEW&C tender from NATO headquarters in Brussels to replace the alliance’s ageing fleet of Boeing E-3 Sentry jets.
L3Harris tells FlightGlobal that an aerial refuelling capability is included as a requirement for the Canadian tender, something that is unique among existing AEW&C opportunities.
“They’ve got to fly an 8h sortie just to get on station to go patrol the Arctic,” Lambert notes. “So, we’re working along with Bombardier to develop capability to do that.”
Saab has not confirmed that it has similar efforts underway, although that is likely, particularly given the common airframe between the two designs.
Carney’s office says a domestic GlobalEye programme could create 3,000 jobs in Canada, while Johansson has previously suggested Saab could bring as many as 10,000 jobs to Canada if the RCAF commits to fielding both the GlobalEye and Saab’s latest Gripen E/F tactical fighter.
Under Canadian law, domestic economic impact must be considered when evaluating vendors for all government procurement projects.
Although it previously lost a competitive fly-off against the Lockheed Martin F-35A, the Gripen is now back in contention for the RCAF’s fighter capitalisation effort after political tensions between Canada and the USA have soured Canadian public opinion on buying an American aircraft.
Although Saab’s job creation figures for a joint GlobalEye-Gripen programme have not been independently verified, they represent a significant incentive for the Carney government, which is seeking to reduce Canada’s reliance on American defence products.
Washington, meanwhile, continues to push for the F-35.
The US ambassador to Ottawa has suggested that US fighters will have to spend more time in Canadian airspace if the RCAF passes on the F-35 stealth jet in order to meet the tactical needs of the jointly run North American Aerospace Defense Command.
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