Carney is on a multi-day visit to Norway, where he met soldiers at NATO's winter exercise Cold Response. On Sunday, he met with five Nordic leaders in Oslo to discuss closer cooperation on defense in the Arctic, among other things.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson afterwards called Canada "the most Nordic country outside the Nordic countries," and emphasized concrete military issues that Sweden and Canada have in common.
"We already have a major, important collaboration on Global Eye," he said, referring to Saab's airborne surveillance and warning system.
"Canada builds the aircraft on which the entire Global Eye system is mounted," Kristersson said.
Not an effective way
Ahead of the meeting, there were also widespread reports that Canada wants to buy both Norwegian-German submarines and Swedish fighter jets. Previously, the Ottawa government had decided on the US F-35 aircraft, but after deteriorating relations with the Trump administration, Carney has ordered a review of the plans.
When asked by TT about this, both Kristersson and Carney said that specific deals were not discussed at the meeting. But Carney continued:
"The question is very well-motivated and is part of the spirit of our discussions here."
He believes that Canada's security benefits from expanding cooperation more than has been done so far.
"Historically, when Canada has made defense purchases, more than 70 cents of every dollar has gone to the U.S. That is not an efficient way to build our own industry, or to protect our people."
Greater transparency
He is thus signaling greater openness to defense deals with Europe.
"We have a much broader collection of countries we can collaborate with."
Kristersson is on the same track, saying Canada wants to rely less on its powerful southern neighbor.
"There is a huge desire among them to, shall we say, be more dependent on more countries. They have been very heavily dependent on the United States for a long time."
Will meet again
In a joint statement from the meeting, the six countries committed to continuing to meet on issues such as the Arctic, emphasizing that their forces “contribute to strengthening NATO’s eastern flank and deterring Russian aggression.”
Despite an increasingly unpredictable U.S., they emphasized that the greatest security threat is Russia. They called for increased support for Ukraine within the group of countries called the “coalition of the willing.”
Facts: Canada and Gripen
Canada wants to acquire 88 new fighter jets, to replace the fleet of CF-18 Hornets purchased from the United States in the 1980s.
In 2022, Canada chose the US F-35 over the Swedish Gripen. But it is now considering changing course and buying all or some of the planes from Sweden instead.
With so many aircraft at stake, it could be one of the largest Gripen deals ever for Sweden and the manufacturer Saab.
Sweden has approximately 100 Gripen in service. Previously, the aircraft has been exported to countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Thailand and on lease to the Czech Republic and Hungary. In those cases, it is about 10 to 40 aircraft per country.
The biggest potential deal right now is Ukraine, which has signed a letter of intent for 150 Gripen aircraft. But it is unclear how those aircraft will be paid for.
