Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

jerlam

The US doesn't even use the Wedgetail, and has cancelled and then un-cancelled it: https://aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/pentagon-e-7-wedgetail-...

xattt

It helps that the base plane is built in Canada, and that the PM made commitments to the Swedish king in November 2025.

bigyabai

Saab makes excellent AWACS systems, this strikes me as a good choice. It'll be interesting to see if Canada also invests in the Gripen long-term, as a replacement for the aging CF-18 fleet.

moltar

Now the interesting question to me is why is that a country with a tenth of population can have car, truck and military plane manufacturing yet Canada can’t, even with virtually all resources for inputs, including energy can’t.

ge96

Bring back the Arrow

jmclnx

> as the country seeks to reduce reliance on US defense firms I wonder why ? I think we may be seeing a lot more of this. Maybe we will get to see what US Corporations value more, real paying customers or large tax cuts w/stock buy back curtsy of US Gov Monetary Support.

hnburnsy

Boeing and Airbus have tremendous backlogs... >As of March 31st, 2026, Airbus reported a commercial aircraft backlog of 9,031 aircraft. Based on the company’s 2026 delivery target of 870 aircraft, this represents approximately 10.4 years of production coverage. >Boeing’s commercial backlog stood at approximately 6,719 aircraft at the end of March. Using Forecast International’s production estimates, Boeing’s backlog equates to roughly 10.1 years of production coverage. https://flightplan.forecastinternational.com/2026/04/14/airb...

khriss

I can understand why this change happened. Even if American equipment is superior, there is a lot of value to not depending on a supposed 'ally' which * Arbitrarily slapped high tariffs on all goods from Canada while exempting Russia and Belarus. * Threatened to take over the country by force. * Officially suspended the Permanent Joint Board on Defense between US and Canada because of criticism of US foreign policy by the Canadian PM

Bender

Awesome, the more suppliers, sources and competition the better. Might this bring prices down and quality up?

winfredJa

Trump's damage to the USA will be studied extensively in the future.

thegrim33

So, how this propaganda works is by presenting a false picture of reality by selective reporting. Any time someone doesn't choose the US or moves away from the US, etc., or any time events can be remotely interpreted in that way, those stories will get submitted to and raised up to the front page of HN. Any time someone DOES choose the US, or moves to the US, you will never, ever, ever, see a story about it on HN. They won't get submitted, and if they do, they won't get upvoted. You only get shown the negative news that helps their agenda, and you never get shown the positive news that would hinder the picture of reality they're trying to place in your mind.

hermitcrab

In related news: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/05/21/italy-moves-to... I guess insulting and threatening your allies isn't great for arms sales.

throwaway85825

The US wedgetail order was canceled and Canada can't afford to fund the program on its own. But slop journalists will spin a geopolitical angle because it gets clicks.

e40

Over the last few months we've seen announcements of shifts from US-based supply chains to non-US-supply chains. As an American, I think this is prudent, based on what has happened in the last year and change. The US is no longer a reliable partner and this is what you do when that happens. 100 years from now, the last 15 months will be written about in no uncertain terms: this administration has loaded many footguns and pulled the trigger, over ideologies which are just plain stupid. "America First" indeed. Soft power is power. "Forever" wars are wars we shouldn't be in. Retribution by POTUS acting like a 5 year old is disgusting no matter what party that person came from. It will take decades to recover from what has and will happen during this administration's run. Let's hope the power they have ends in November 2026 and not Nov 2028.

standardUser

As an American with mostly headline-level knowledge of Canadian politics, this Mark Carney seems unusually competent and effective, as far as heads-of-state go.

jleyank

We can also have a chuckle and imagine the kerfuffle in the US West Coast wanted to be the 11th provinces...

jameson

Trust matters in business because it provides a sense of predictability

LightBug1

Completely understandable. It's like when your favourite restaurant gets taken over by new management, and you discover cockroaches and maggots in your Trenette al Pesto You switch restaurants.

carlosjobim

Countries always use the threat of buying Swedish war planes as a bargaining chip to get a better deal from the US, or whoever they're really going to buy from. So these news are best believed when everything is signed, sealed, and delivered. This has been going on for at least 20 years with SAAB fighters. From the article: "Saab is also in the running to sell Canada some of its Gripen fighters. Canada has a deal to buy 88 F-35 jets from Lockheed-Martin, but last year, after the US slapped tariffs on key Canadian imports, Carney asked the military to investigate whether it could cut back the order and buy some planes from another manufacturer." Ask yourself: Why would a nation spill military secrets like this to the media? They're trying to put pressure on the US. Those Gripen fighters are in all likelihood staying in Sweden after all is said and done.

Waterluvian

I feel a deep sense of pride and hope, palpably in my chest, when I get a week of news about how we're developing much closer ties with our European allies and divesting ourselves of the abusive American relationship. Carney's Davos speech was powerful, but those words needed to be followed by actions, which I think we are seeing. I'm used to being so disappointed by politicians.