\t\t\t\t\tRelated Articles<\/p>\n
\t \n\tBy \t \u201cWe expected a full competition,\u201d said Jason Lambert, the Texas-based president of the company\u2019s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance division. \u201cNot having a competition, I think it actually surprised not just L3Harris.\u201d<\/p>\n Carney and the Liberal government have declared that they\u2019re doing defence procurements differently as they rush to meet NATO spending targets<\/a> and build up Canada\u2019s military forces. That has included handing contracts to select companies without competitions, such as a nearly $3-million preliminary deal<\/a> with MDA Space and Telesat that will almost certainly lead to a new multibillion-dollar satellite constellation for military communications.<\/p>\n MDA and Telesat are longtime pillars of the Canadian space industry; they have competitors, but not with their pedigrees. In the case of the AEW&C purchase, the government has picked a winner among foreign vendors, and there are unhappy losers.<\/p>\n Canada plans to buy about six of the planes, which are loaded with sensors and communications gear and serve as flying command centres.<\/p>\n Boeing was also promoting its early warning and command aircraft<\/a> in Ottawa, parking a branded truck trailer with pop-out sides at the Cansec convention centre as a mobile display centre. When The Logic visited after Carney\u2019s announcement, it was closed and unattended, and a roll-up sign in front of it had fallen face-down. Signs hung on two trailer doors said it would reopen at 1:30 p.m.; the time was 3:30 p.m. Boeing spokesperson Cynthia Waldmeier said by email that the trailer might have been closed because it was full.<\/p>\n The domestic benefits of the Saab offer were a key part of the government\u2019s decision, Industry Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly said in an interview. Saab\u2019s offering consists of aircraft bodies built by Bombardier in Toronto through the two companies\u2019 GlobalEye program, then outfitted in Sweden. Saab says it will start making finished planes in Canada, including for other countries\u201440 or more jets\u2014and support 3,000 domestic aerospace jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the essence of what we\u2019re trying to do when thinking of what will be strategic partnerships,\u201d Joly said. Discussions began with Saab at the major air show in Paris last June, she said, and carried on behind the scenes for months.<\/p>\n \t\t \tL3Harris executives claim their firm’s early-warning plane, the Aeris X, is superior to the one Canada chose. Photo: LinkedIn\/L3Harris\t<\/p>\n L3Harris has been talking to different parts of the Canadian government about the AEW&C business, Lambert said, including the air force, National Defence more broadly, Joly\u2019s department and Public Services and Procurement.\u00a0<\/p>\n L3Harris\u2019s planes are also based on Bombardier jet bodies. Lambert said L3Harris has promised 1,100 new Canadian jobs if Canada buys the Aeris X, a figure he said has outside verification.<\/p>\n He also argued that L3Harris\u2019s final planes are superior to Saab\u2019s, using a different radar design that allows the Aeris to fly over 10,000 feet higher\u2014\u201cYou want to be above the threat and be able to get a broader perspective and range,\u201d he said\u2014and survey 360 degrees at once.<\/p>\n The merits of different options would have been aired in a formal competition among different proposals, like the one Ottawa is running for submarines. (At Cansec, Carney promised a decision on that procurement by the end of June.)<\/p>\n The prime minister\u2019s revelation on the AEW&C craft was only that Canada would negotiate exclusively with Saab, so there\u2019s a chance the government will change its mind, and L3Harris will keep pressing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still in discussions with the Canadian air force, as recently as just this afternoon, to talk about the aircraft,\u201d Lambert said\u2014that is, even after Carney\u2019s announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n L3Harris might not have the brand recognition of Boeing or Lockheed Martin, but it\u2019s a multibillion-dollar corporation that does a lot of business in Canada. Among other things, it won major contracts in March to support<\/a> Canada\u2019s CC-330 Husky transports; maintains<\/a> numerous other Royal Canadian Air Force planes; and is part of the preparations<\/a> for Lockheed Martin F-35 jets (which Saab is simultaneously trying to convince<\/a> Canada not to buy).<\/p>\n Joly said in the interview that she\u2019s not worried that potential vendors will be reluctant to deal with Canada if they feel ill-used by abrupt decisions: \u201cTo the contrary,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen so many European companies and American companies interested in becoming strategic partners.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 Prime Minister Mark Carney blindsided other potential suppliers when he announced Wednesday morning that Canada plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[6885,235,111,290,346],"class_list":["post-66415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-defence","tag-economy","tag-mark-carney","tag-national","tag-procurement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1780075095_490_Joint_Support_Ship_Seaspan_NorthVan_Feb2026_Ethan_Cairns_CP175759776_1920x1280-768x512.jpg\")
\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\tDavid Reevely and Laura Osman\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/F-35_fighter_Ottawa_Sept2019_Adrian_Wyld_CP14502452_1920x1280-768x512.jpg\")
\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aeris_X_jet_mockup_May2026_L3Harris_handout_1920x1280.jpg\")
\t<\/p>\n