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A Canadian crewmember, left, served on a NATO E-3A Sentry mission over Europe earlier this year, but Canada has never operated its own airborne early warning aircraft.
A recent bonanza for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s aircraft fleet bypassed Canada’s aerospace industry. Ottawa has signed orders for 104 new military aircraft over the past 18 months, but none from Bombardier, despite a furious challenge for a contract that went to Boeing.
As the government begins planning for a new airborne early warning (AEW) fleet, the C$5 billion ($3.6 billion) program reopens the debate.
This time, Boeing’s proposed E-7A Wedgetail faces competition from an off-the-shelf, locally built alternative: the Bombardier Global 6500-based Saab GlobalEye AEW aircraft, featuring the Swedish manufacturer’s Erieye extended-range radar. L3Harris and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) also are offering a competing platform based on the same Canadian business jet derivative with the latter’s Elta EL/W-2085 radar.
- No timeline yet for fleet acquisition
- Bombardier 6500 variants face Boeing E-7A
As Canada’s air force continues mapping out requirements for its future AEW capability, government officials are openly encouraging national industry players to start preparing for the competition.
“I think one of the reasons we published that information with a fully funded budget in our latest policy update was to send a clear message to all industry—but in particular the Canadian aerospace industry—about where we’re going, and that the money will be there,” National Defense Minister Bill Blair told Aviation Week May 29 on the sidelines of the Cansec trade show.
His comments came six months after the government selected Boeing to deliver up to 16 P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, replacing its Lockheed CP-140 Auroras with another U.S.-built aircraft. Only a few years earlier, Canada had no plans to replace the CP-140s until the mid-2030s.
While the government’s 2022 decision to accelerate the CP-140 replacement schedule caught Bombardier off guard, the Canadian manufacturer quickly teamed with General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada to propose an alternative based on the Global 6500. The partnership united an increasingly popular special-mission aircraft with the creator of the CP-140’s mission systems. But selecting the local option would have added years to the schedule and billions in extra development costs, and the government ultimately selected Boeing’s off-the-shelf option, ignoring Bombardier’s pleas for a competition.
The AEW program presents a different competitive backdrop. Saab already has an AEW version of the Global 6500 in production for the United Arab Emirates and Sweden. The mission system of the L3Harris/IAI proposal is already in service with the Israeli and Italian air forces, leaving only the cross-decking of the radar and other systems onto the Global 6500. Plus, Canadian aerospace now has several years to prepare for the acquisition phase of the AEW program, with government officials openly encouraging its engagement.
“I really very much believe that, first of all, the Canadian aerospace industry innovators are remarkable, and I want them to be able to compete for those contracts,” Blair told Aviation Week. “We’re going to work in a partnership with them. I think it’s a real opportunity for us to work together to get the best results for the Air Force, but also the best results for Canadian industry.”
Not surprisingly, Bombardier’s recently formed Defense division welcomes a fresh opportunity to win a landmark domestic military contract.
“In relation to the AEW program recently announced by the Canadian Department of National Defense, two world-renowned prime integrators, Saab and L3Harris, have each chosen Bombardier’s Global aircraft as their platform of choice for this upcoming procurement,” a Bombardier spokesperson said. “Bombardier Defense is looking forward to working with its partners, and the Government of Canada, to provide a made-in-Canada solution that will protect Canadians and our country’s borders.”
Boeing’s E-7A also boasts certain domestic advantages. Although the company assembles the 737-700 platform in the U.S., Boeing officials say they are open to performing the modification work locally if the Canadian government makes that a requirement. More than 70 Canadian companies already participate in the E-7A supply chain, and the E-7 shares 86% commonality with Canada’s future 737-800 ERX-derived P-8As.
The narrowbody E-7A, however, is more than 40% heavier than Bombardier’s long-range business jet. A heavier aircraft generally implies higher acquisition and operating costs, but Boeing officials say other factors must be considered, including the 737 family’s significantly larger fleet and service network.
“We think that drives down into a much more affordable, sustainable price than a smaller business jet, which has less of that sustainment backbone,” Tim Flood, Boeing’s international sales director for the P-8, told reporters during Cansec.
So far, the industry teams have little information about Ottawa’s requirements for the AEW fleet. Neither the air force nor the Public Services and Procurement Canada agency have published a program description outlining the projected capability costs and timeline of approved acquisitions. Canada’s limited defense budget also appears to leave little room for new purchases through the early 2030s. After new fleets of surface combatants, fighters, maritime patrol aircraft, tankers and advanced jet trainers are delivered by about 2032, the government may have room in the budget for new priorities.
The AEW requirement appeared as a surprise in the Defense Policy Update released by the government in April, but Canada has been building up its resources for the mission for several years. After withdrawing from the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control program in 2011, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned the country to the joint Boeing E-3C Sentry fleet in 2018.
About 25 Canadians are now dispatched to the NATO mission, while others continue the country’s 45-year involvement in the U.S. Air Force’s 552nd Air Control Wing at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma.
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