Prime Minister Mark Carney says the Canadian Armed Forces need the plane to detect and deter threats across the Arctic.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Wednesday that his government would not purchase early-warning-radar planes from the United States, opting instead for a European model.

Canada will purchase Swedish Saab’s GlobalEye, which is based on the Canadian-manufactured Bombardier Global 6500 jet.

Tensions between the US and Canada have been high since Donald Trump launched a trade war against the US’ northern neighbor and even suggested that Canada should become the 51st US state, which caused widespread outrage in Canada, just as Carney was seeking the post of prime minister and succeeded in getting elected to it.

Since then, the Canadian government has also opted ot review the planned purchase of US F-35 fighter jets to explore other options.

  • rwrwefwef@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    1 hour ago

    What I should have said, is that buying the Gripen is an admission that they are voluntarily forfeiting their ability to fight a modern war.

    I should have put it differently as well; what I meant was that Canada simply doesn’t have the capability to fight a modern war, and it never will. There’s too great of a differential between our main adversaries ( historically the USA, more recently Russia, and in a more far-fetched way China and India) and Canada; the metrics will never match up.

    Come to think of it, Canada has never fought a war per se. It has only assisted in wars, usually as part some sort of Anglo-American coalition. I argue that we shouldn’t get involved in British or American wars (like we recently declined with Iran) and hence we wouldn’t really need any fighter capability. But in any case, even as part of an allied coalition, Canada will not be able to be the difference maker in the fight. We cannot determine the outcome of a war, that will be up to what our allies can make happen.

    And therefore, we will not be starting any war; we might begrudgingly join one, in which case our allies will have to carry the day. None of these cases requires a powerful fighter fleet.

    Might as well hold out and wait to acquire a 6th gen European platform, which should be available in the early 2040s.

    Relying on the Europeans to achieve anything is basically a waste of time. Sure they may be able to do it, after long delays, but as I mentioned, 6th gen isn’t the point. The recon planes are a better asset that will actually see practical use; I would have preferred to see the E-3 Sentry get selected over this radar mounted on a business jet thing, but no one is going to cry over Boeing missing a contract. Maybe the Americans could put some duct tape on the ones they “damaged” in Iran and call it refurbished?