Sweden Offers Growing Incentives For Canada to Cut F-35 Orders and Buy Gripens

Swedish officials and executives from the country’s leading defence contractor Saab have presented a structured proposal for the Gripen E/F fighter to meet part of Canada’s future requirements, during a state visit to Ottawa by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf. The Canadian Defence Ministry was on April 6 confirmed to be holding talks with Saab regarding the possible procurement of Gripen E/F to replace a portion of the fleet of 98 U.S.-supplied Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18A/B Hornet fighters, allowing the Ministry to revise its current planned purchase of 88 F-35A fifth generation fighters from the United States. Reports emerged in October that the administration of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was considering deep cuts to its planned order for F-35As with the intention of reallocating funds towards procuring the Gripen E/F, with Carney having advocated greater “diversification” in Ottawa’s defence and industrial partnerships.

Although the F-35 has consistently won every tender in which it has competed against the Gripen E/F and other fourth generation fighters, political factors including worsening ties with the United States under the new Donald Trump administration has seen the Gripen quickly emerge as a leading candidate to replace a portion of the fleet. The tremendous performance advantages and comparable procurement costs of the F-35A have led European manufacturers to seek to better market their aircraft by offering industrial partnerships.Saab’s struggle to market the Gripen E/F to any economically developed countries making the potential to enter Canadian markets a decisive moment for the program. The firm has accordingly offered not only to build an assembly line for the aircraft in Canada, but also to finance a full manufacturing centre and a research and development facility. This offer will reportedly create between 9,000 and 10,000 jobs over three to five years should Canada procure the Gripen,

Replacing a portion of the F-35 fleet with the Gripen E/F will provide the Royal Canadian Air Force with a high-low combination of fighters, with the Gripen being a very lightweight aircraft with a much more limited combat potential, but with much lower maintenance needs and sustainment costs and higher availability rates. Thus even if a similar number of fighters from each type is procured, it is likely that close to twice as many Gripens can be kept combat ready at any time. While the F-35’s stealth capabilities, more advanced avionics, and larger more powerful sensor suite provide significant advantages for air defence operations, the aircraft was primarily designed for penetration strike operations and air defence suppression, which are not capabilities prioritised by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The service may compensate for the Gripen E/F’s limited situational awareness by networking with U.S. Air Force F-35s based in Alaska, with its own F-35s, and with ground-based radars and AEW&C systems in the region.