Jets, jobs, and national security – Tactical fighters and the history of Canadian defence industrial development

Over the past year, in light of upcoming procurements and new investments in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the defence industrial base supporting it, the Government of Canada has reopened the debate on how best to cultivate its defence aerospace industry. The ongoing rupture in Canada-US relations, and the stalled review of the existing Lockheed Martin F-35 acquisition, has attracted attention. Into this breach Saab, with its JAS-39E Gripen fighter, has appeared, promising 10,000 jobs as well as a scheme to produce them in Canada (Reguly 2025a; 2025b). While the veracity of Saab’s claims have been questioned by many individuals (Duggan 2025), the situation has sparked broader questions about what approach the Government of Canada should take to develop the RCAF’s airpower capabilities as well as the industrial system to support those objectives.

Equipping the RCAF effectively requires a clear understanding of how Canada’s aerospace industry translates into military capability. Rather than repeat ineffective policies from the past – such as licensed production, where a foreign government or firm is granted rights and the technical know-how to manufacture a specific weapons system – Ottawa can build on the strengths of the Canadian industry and join allies’ military projects early in their development cycles.

This approach would give the RCAF access to cutting-edge capabilities while embedding domestic firms in far larger and more resilient supply chains. This model was employed to great success with the Joint Strike Fighter program, and new opportunities with similarly large-scale benefits are emerging – if the Government of Canada is nimble and risk tolerant enough to act.

The focus here is on tactical fighters and their relationship to Canada’s defence aerospace industry. This is not meant to diminish the importance of other airpower capabilities; many of the trends seen with tactical fighters also appear in other domains and more broadly across services such as land and naval systems.