Saab appears to be winning the public relations war on the fighter jet front with its Gripen aircraft. (Saab photo)
By Newell Durnbrooke
Prime Minister Mark Carney has still to make the decision on what fighter jet the Royal Canadian Air Force will end up with.
Canada had planned to buy 88 U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets but Carney ordered a review of that purchase in the wake of threats against Canadian sovereignty by U.S. President Donald Trump and the trade war launched by the Americans.
In the meantime, Saab of Sweden has proposed Canada buy its Gripen fighter jet.
While the RCAF waits for the decision, both Saab and Lockheed Martin, as well as the F-35 and Gripen advocates, have been battling it out in a public relations war.
Lockheed Martin seemed to have the edge a couple of weeks ago after the CBC’s David Common did a couple of TV reports on the F-35. Common went to the F-35 assembly facility in the U.S. and the result was a gushing report that, at times, seemed like a commercial for Lockheed Martin.
“CBC's David Common looks at what goes into building the F-35 and finds a surprising Canadian contribution”, was how the CBC hyped the Oct. 16 report. Common then outlined that Canadian firms build parts for the F-35.
Surprising contribution? Really?
The fact that Canadian firms build parts for the F-35 has been the selling point for the RCAF and Lockheed Martin for the last 15 years. It is interesting that Common did not report that Trump has indicated he wants all such contracts back in the U.S. in the coming years.
Common also did a profile of a Lockheed F-35 test pilot, again highly positive PR for the firm.
But Saab seems to have taken the public relations high ground in recent days.
At first there were a few business articles in the Globe and Mail and other outlets about the possibility of assembling the Gripen in Canada.
Then by Nov. 14 the articles were in the Globe and on CTV News were more definite– if Canada bought the Gripen then Canada would see 10,000 manufacturing and research jobs. Bombardier and CAE, both in Quebec, as well as IMP Aerospace and Defence in Nova Scotia could be part of the deal.
“If Canada wants to create sovereign capabilities and to do their own upgrades, to build parts of it, to do final assembly and test, we are prepared to do that,” SAAB President and CEO Micael Johansson told CTV. “We could do a technology transfer to Canada and support that build up.”
That statement is pointedly aimed at the fact that the U.S. controls the technology upgrades to the F-35 and owns all the parts.
Saab’s proposal would include either building a new facility or converting an existing one, with the first Canadian-made Gripen potentially flying off the assembly line within three to five years, according to CTV.
And as more enticement, Saab threw in the possibility that Gripen fighter jets for Ukraine could be assembled in Canada. “If we’re going to ramp up production to support a big contract to Ukraine, we will need one or two extra hubs,” Johansson said. “It makes sense to have a big footprint in Canada together with Canadian industry, so it is absolutely a benefit for us to do that.”
So, Saab was essentially signalling that it was spreading industrial benefits to two key regional areas of Canada, as well as supporting Ukraine – a particular area of interest for the Liberal government.
In addition, Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, have to Canada to pitch the defence deal. While most Canadians likely know little about them, the trip shows that Saab is ready to pull out all the stops.
Lockheed Martin has yet to counter the latest Saab tactics. But it’s not like they can count on Donald Trump to be their pitchman for the F-35 as he is pretty much universally despised in Canada.
The U.S. have also taken a different strategy on that front anyways.
The American government has threatened consequences for Canada if it doesn’t go ahead of buy the F-35. Those threats have come from Pete Hoekstra, the much disliked U.S. ambassador to Canada.
https://ottawacitizen.com/public-service/defence-watch/us-warns-canada-f-35-fighter-jet
There has been some reaction to the Saab initiative from the F-35 camp.
Former Lockheed Martin test pilot Billie Flynn has countered that the Gripen is a more expensive aircraft than the F-35 when it comes to the per unit price.
“Canada’s F-35 debate has devolved into anti-American theater,” Flynn bemoaned. “The F-35 has become a lightning (pun intended) rod for anti-Trump, anti-everything-American sentiment.”
And I wonder why that is? Could it be that the Americans are threatening to destroy Canada’s sovereignty and destroy our economy? Is it because American economic actions so far have cost tens of thousands of Canadians their jobs? It is doubtful Flynn will get much sympathy by complaining about Canadian attitudes towards Americans.
But the most ironic part of Flynn’s post is his questioning why the news media is “not screaming” from the rooftops about his claim that the Gripen is more expensive than the F-35. “The media should do their homework and publish these numbers and educate the public before we get robbed on a deal that makes zero sense,” he added.
Is this the same Billie Flynn who has in the past attacked the news media and claimed they were part of an anti-F-35 conspiracy. In another recent blog post, Flynn wrote that in the fighter jet debate “Canadian journalists and pundits would serve their readers far better by stepping away from their laptops.”
Now he wants them to go back to their laptops and scream from the rooftops?
Make up your mind Billie.
The other issue that Flynn neglects in his latest post about per unit aircraft cost is the long term costs of the jets. The hourly flight cost of the F-35 is $36,000 U.S. or $50,500 Canadian.
The hourly flight cost of the Gripen is $7,000 U.S. or $9,800.
Interesting figures indeed.
