Canada is in advanced talks with the European Union to join the bloc’s new project to expand its military industry, a move that would allow Canada to be part of building European fighter jets and other military equipment at its own industrial facilities.
The budding defense cooperation between Canada and the European Union, which is racing to shore up its industry to lower reliance on the United States, would boost Canada’s military manufacturers and offer the country a new market at a time when its relationship with the United States has become frayed.
Shaken by a crisis in the two nations’ longstanding alliance since President Trump’s election, Canada has started moving closer to Europe. The military industry collaboration with the European Union highlights how traditional U.S. allies are deepening their ties without U.S. participation to insulate themselves from Mr. Trump’s unpredictable moves.
This is huge. If this grains traction it would be a substantial boost to our economy and our defense capabilities.
I have no expertise in military technology and cannot speak to the superiority of F-35s, the magnitude of their tactical advantage, nor the factors that justify or mitigate their operating cost. But the auxiliary benefits of buying into Saab’s ecosystem are accumulating into quite the stack. Given that our military strength is somewhat predicated on economic strength, I like seeing us take a path that grows both. The latter pays dividends even if we fight no real wars nor avert any theoretical ones.
And ultimately, Lockheed Martin’s technological advantage is built on capital investment and mindshare. With sufficient resources consolidating elsewhere, that can be eventually rivaled. Even before that point, we’re looking at facing rivals with lesser tech than the Gripen, or rivals that control the F-35 program and its supply lines. The upsides are just too context-sensitive.
Future wars look like they’re going to be more and more about who can last longer in wars of attrition and manufacturing, so this is a good bet in my books too.
If Canada is playing défense in a war, we’re going to need to force it to be asymmetrical and distributed with drones like Ukraine is doing.
We should have started this back under the Trump version 1 term. But better late than never.
I think we should start to fortify our borders next. We’re living above an unstable country. I’m tired of their guns crossing the border and killing Canadians. We need to lock this shit down now.
This is ironically written by an American newspaper.
What is ironic about that? It affects them too. They are among the best-funded sources of journalism and have been pretty consistent in standing up to report on the consequences of the actions that Americans have taken.
Wheeee gripens
Plot twist: that was trump’s plan all along
