Is Canada buying gripen aircraft
Executive summary
Canada has not yet bought Gripen fighters; Sweden’s Saab has formally pitched a package of 72 JAS 39 Gripen fighters paired with six GlobalEye surveillance aircraft to Ottawa as an alternative to the planned F‑35 purchases, and Ottawa is actively reviewing that offer while the fate of the remainder of Canada’s F‑35 order remains under reconsideration [1][2][3].
1. Saab’s pitch: a 72‑jet package tied to jobs and sovereign production
Saab’s proposal to Canada is explicit: it says Ottawa would need to buy 72 Gripen fighters and six GlobalEye airborne early‑warning aircraft for Saab’s promise of roughly 12,600 Canadian jobs and a local manufacturing and sustainment footprint to materialize, including plans to build aircraft and support centres in Canada [1][2][4][5].
2. Where Canada stands now: a review, not a purchase
The Canadian government has legally funded and begun taking delivery of 16 F‑35s under a previous deal, but the larger planned purchase of up to 88 F‑35s is under review by the Carney administration, creating the opening for Saab’s alternative; there is no public record in these reports that Ottawa has accepted Saab’s Gripen/GlobalEye offer or signed a contract to buy Gripens [6][7][3].
3. The practical catch: jobs claims hinge on scale and exports
Multiple outlets report that Saab’s job‑creation numbers depend on both Canada buying the 72 + 6 package and on turning Canada into a production hub for exports—Saab and Canadian officials have discussed building dozens to hundreds of aircraft in Canada for third‑party buyers such as Ukraine to reach the headline employment figures [5][8][9].
4. The defence trade‑offs: sovereignty and industry versus interoperability and capability
Proponents of Gripen in Canada frame the argument around sovereign production, lower cost and domestic industrial benefits, while critics and many former military officials warn about the operational and alliance trade‑offs of switching from an F‑35 centric plan—mixed fleets raise logistics, training and interoperability complexities with NORAD and NATO partners that supported the F‑35 option [4][10][6].
5. Public opinion and political leverage are now central
Polling cited in the reporting shows substantial public interest in the Gripen option, and ministers are reportedly using Saab’s bid as leverage to demand better industrial benefits from Lockheed Martin on the F‑35 file, which has turned what might have been a narrow procurement decision into a broader political and economic negotiation [1][10].
6. Technical claims and counterclaims remain contested
Articles pushing the Gripen emphasize maintainability and Arctic suitability, while analysts caution that some of Saab’s technical claims—such as assertions about making stealth “irrelevant”—are not widely endorsed in the independent defence community; the debate continues over whether Gripen’s lower cost and sovereignty gains offset the F‑35’s fifth‑generation sensors and data‑fusion advantages [11][6].
7. Bottom line: not buying—yet; this is an active procurement debate
The factual bottom line from available reporting is straightforward: Saab has offered a concrete Gripen plus GlobalEye package and tied it to Canadian jobs and production, Canada is reviewing its F‑35 plan amid that bid, but there is no confirmed Canadian purchase or contract award for Gripens in the sources provided [2][1][3].