{"id":637909,"date":"2026-04-30T05:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637909\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T05:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:22:11","slug":"nato-agency-poised-to-pick-bombardier-saab-partnership-to-make-new-fleet-of-surveillance-aircraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637909\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO agency poised to pick Bombardier-Saab partnership to make new fleet of surveillance aircraft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The radar system of a NATO Boeing E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System airplane at the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force headquarters in Geilenkirchen, Germany, on Nov. 13, 2025.PAU BARRENA\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization<\/a> appears set to tap Bombardier Inc. BBD-B-T<\/a> and its manufacturing partner Saab for a new fleet of defence<\/a> surveillance aircraft in what could be a major windfall for Canada\u2019s aerospace industry<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The alliance\u2019s support and procurement agency decided last week to select the partners\u2019 GlobalEye aircraft to replace its aging fleet of Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system planes, French investigative publication La Lettre reported. German press agency DPA independently confirmed the information in a separate report. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis NATO decision is significant as it marks the first time since 1982 that a non-Boeing aircraft will serve as NATO\u2019s common airborne surveillance backbone,\u201d Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Benoit Poirier said in a research note. \u201cThe award has materialized faster and ended up being larger than we expected.\u201d <\/p>\n

The alliance\u2019s order is for between 10 and 12 aircraft at a list price of \u20ac550-million each ($878-million), La Lettre reported. The total purchase would top \u20ac5-billion not including training and maintenance, it said. <\/p>\n

A NATO official in Brussels declined to confirm that the contract had been awarded, saying the countries involved in replacing the existing Airborne Warning and Control System fleet continue their work on the initiative. Saab spokesman Mattias R\u00e5dstr\u00f6m said the company has provided information to the alliance\u2019s procurement unit but has not signed a contract or received an order from NATO for GlobalEye. <\/p>\n

Building military aircraft in Canada would create more than 12,000 jobs, Saab tells Ottawa<\/a><\/p>\n

Sweden\u2019s Saab is the main manufacturer and systems integrator for GlobalEye, producing the radar, sensors, and command and control systems. Bombardier makes the airframes for the planes, which are modified versions of its Global 6000 and 6500 business jets. The Canadian company directed questions about the NATO report to Saab. <\/p>\n

Winning the order would be a significant victory for Sweden, which has succeeded in establishing one of its strategic capabilities within NATO just two years after joining the alliance, La Lettre said. The superior range of Saab\u2019s latest-generation surveillance radar and the total cost of the aircraft, nearly half that of Boeing\u2019s, proved decisive, the publication said. <\/p>\n

It would also be a big deal for Canada. <\/p>\n

Bombardier has a growing business building specialized aircraft for military surveillance and reconnaissance missions and its executives have said they\u2019ve only begun to scratch the surface of sales possibilities for the Global jet as a defence platform. The business last year generated more than US$1-billion in revenue, putting the company \u201cseveral years ahead\u201d of its growth plan, according to Bombardier chief financial officer Bart Demosky. <\/p>\n

The NATO contract alone has the potential to deliver US$1-billion in revenue for Bombardier over the life of the program, Desjardins\u2019 Mr. Poirier estimated. He said Bombardier\u2019s sales campaign opportunities in defence have materially increased in recent months, driven by several factors including Europe and other countries steering away from their reliance on U.S. military equipment suppliers. <\/p>\n

Tony Keller: In the Trump era, the F-35 is no longer the right plane for Canada<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Montreal-based CAE Inc. CAE-T<\/a> would be a strong contender to do the training for the new NATO fleet. The company signed a co-operation agreement with Saab this past November that will see CAE offer simulation-based training solutions in support of Saab\u2019s international GlobalEye sales campaigns. <\/p>\n

The United Arab Emirates was the first country to order the GlobalEye aircraft system, which has been described as a tracking machine that can detect and monitor targets such as missiles, ships and ground vehicles in real time over distances as long as 550 kilometres. Sweden and France have also put in orders while Canada is weighing whether to purchase the aircraft. <\/p>\n

Saab has pitched the Carney government on a proposal that would see Ottawa buy 72 of its Gripen fighter jets as well as several GlobalEye planes. The Swedish company is offering to build both aircraft in Canada if the Department of National Defence orders them, transferring the licensing and technology to this country as a way to boost Saab\u2019s global production capacity as new orders come in. <\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s program to replace the E-3s, known as the Alliance Future Surveillance and Control Capability (iAFSC), involves at least seven participating countries, including Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. <\/p>\n

The partner countries said last November they had decided to drop a plan to buy six Boeing E-7 Wedgetail aircraft as successors to the older Boeing planes after the U.S. abandoned plans to order the E-7 for its own armed forces. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal remains to have other, quieter aircraft operational before 2035,\u201d said Gijs Tuinman, who was the Netherlands\u2019 state secretary for defence at the time. \u201cThe withdrawal of the U.S. demonstrates the importance of investing as much as possible in the European industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The radar system of a NATO Boeing E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-637909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}