Newly leaked data shows that the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II was the top-scoring aircraft in Canada’s fighter jet competition, outmatching Saab’s Gripen E by a massive margin.
In a 2021 evaluation conducted by Canada’s Department of National Defense, the F-35 received a 95% rating for military capabilities. The Gripen-E finished with a score of 33%, scoring 19.8 points out of 60, according to data obtained by Radio-Canada.
The competition centered on how well each fighter jet could defend North America and how likely it was to succeed in various missions against modern military forces. The disparity in ranking between the two cutting-edge fighters was especially stark in “mission performance” and the aircraft’s capability to be upgraded during its life cycle.
“The capability assessment here says that there is a clear-cut winner, no contest, no ambiguity,” David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, told CBS News. “I’d expected that [the F-35] was going to be a clear winner, but this is a winner by a mile.”
The revelation has sparked a fresh debate over which aircraft is best suited to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) amid Ottawa’s ongoing review of the F-35 deal.
This further adds to concerns about the perils of operating a mixed fighter jet fleet comprising 16 F-35s that have already been paid for and an unknown number of new Gripen-E fighter jets (if Ottawa selects it over the remaining F-35s).
Canadian officials, veterans, and military experts have warned that a mixed fleet would create operational and logistical challenges as the RCAF is currently preparing training programs and infrastructure for the incoming F-35s.
The new commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet earlier said, “Both China and Russia have fifth-generation fighter aircraft and fifth-generation missiles that can go at much greater speeds and with much more that are holding Western allies at risk at this moment in time.” Thus, indicating an inclination towards the F-35.
In October 2025, Canada’s secretary of state for defense procurement, Stephen Fuhr, said in an interview that the nation wasn’t abandoning the F-35. “I don’t think that’s the direction we’re heading,” Fuhr said in an interview with CBC last month. “But there’ll be a decision, and we’ll make it when we’re ready.”
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This may come as a concern for the Swedish manufacturer Saab, which had earlier received a big blow when Canada chose the Lockheed F-35 stealth fighter in 2022, over the Gripen-E/F, despite a massive ‘Gripen for Canada’ campaign.
‘Gripen For Canada’ Campaign
When Canada expressed a need for a combat aircraft to replace its aging CF-18s, Saab was quick to launch an aggressive campaign to promote its Gripen. This included creating a dedicated blog and leveraging social media to promote the aircraft, highlighting its affordability and adaptability for Arctic operations.
Canada issued a draft request for proposals in October 2018, following which it shortlisted four competitors: Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-35, and the Saab Gripen.
Saab was serious about the Canadian contract; it announced the “Gripen for Canada Team” in March 2020. The campaign was a multi-year marketing, lobbying, and industrial partnership initiative to position its JAS 39 Gripen E/F multirole fighter jet as the preferred replacement for Canada’s aging CF-18 Hornet fleet.
The campaign emphasized the Gripen’s supposed operational superiority, cost-effectiveness, technological sovereignty, and the massive economic benefits for Canada, including job creation and domestic manufacturing.
In a bid to make the offer too good to ignore, the Gripen team partnered with Canadian firms to create high-quality jobs in maintenance, simulation, and systems integration. This included commitments to local production and technology transfer.
“Saab’s bid to the Government of Canada will include a comprehensive proposal to deliver those benefits, with high-quality jobs and technology, adding greater economic value and knowledge across Canadian industry coast to coast. Today’s announcement is the first step toward achieving this offer with IMP Aerospace & Defence, CAE, Peraton Canada, and GE Aviation as the ‘Gripen for Canada Team’,” the manufacturer said on its website in 2020.
A 4.5th-generation aircraft, the Saab Gripen-E was marketed to Canada as a ‘game changer’ with advanced avionics, electronic warfare systems, and the ability to integrate weapons from multiple nations with sovereignty.
Saab highlighted the jet’s open architecture for rapid software upgrades, fuel efficiency, and the longest combat radius among competitors, which the company repeatedly touted as a crucial requirement for Canada’s vast geography and NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense) commitments.
Not just that, the campaign asserted that the Gripen offers full technological control and no export restrictions, allowing Canada to modify systems independently, unlike alternatives such as the F-35.
Saab has a dedicated webpage that includes downloadable brochures such as “Built By Canada” (2021) and “Gripen E – The Game Changer” (2022).
In March 2022, when the Canadian Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi said that the negotiations to settle the cost, delivery schedule, and economic benefits for Canada were taking place with Lockheed, Saab Canada’s President, Simon Carroll, hit back, saying that there should not be anything to negotiate at this stage of the competitive process.
“Recent statements by the government indicated Canada is negotiating cost, delivery schedule, and economic benefits with our competitor,” Carroll said. “There should be no negotiation on these critical elements. These elements of the bidders’ response were to be committed to and then evaluated as part of the competitive process.”
Later, Saab called the Canadian pivot to the American fighter jet unfair play, saying the deal was sealed due to America’s political clout.
“The process was not transparent. The requirements were tailored to exclude competition. We delivered the best value—Canada chose politics over merit,” said Saab Canada President, Simon Carroll.
However, since Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney put the purchase of 88 F-35A jets under review in March 2025 amid heightened tensions with the Donald Trump administration, the ‘Gripen for Canada’ campaign has been resuscitated with full power.
Gripen For Canada 2.0 Campaign
While Canada has already paid for 16 Lockheed Martin F-35As and plans to proceed with the acquisition of the initial tranche, Saab is pulling out all the stops to promote the Gripen as a replacement for the CF-18 while exploiting the Canadian Prime Minister’s push to diversify its military purchases to reduce reliance on the US.
The Swedish manufacturer is engaged in an aggressive effort to woo Canadian decision-makers. The company is taking the same route it took in the campaign three years ago, albeit with more zeal and benefits.
For instance, the Saab CEO has announced that the company is considering Canada as its third production site, after Sweden and Brazil, to increase jet production capacity outside Sweden and ramp up output to meet demand from Ukraine, which could acquire up to 150 Gripen-E fighters.
Saab has already enlisted Bombardier for the local production.
“Bombardier is open to providing local expertise if the government of Canada decides to go this route,” Mark Masluch, Bombardier’s senior director of communications, stated.
Additionally, Saab officially designated the GlobalEye as a contender for Canada’s airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform requirement in May 2025.
We know that the Carney government reportedly has a soft spot for the GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform. GlobalEye is built on the Canadian-made Bombardier Global 6000/6500 business jet, meaning it would not be a completely foreign platform for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
This may be an attempt to offer Canada a packaged deal that benefits the local economy by generating jobs and revenue.
Intensifying the campaign, the CEO of Saab, Micael Johansson, recently traveled to Ottawa to meet the nation’s top bureaucrat, Michael Sabia, a few days before the federal budget was tabled, fuelling speculation that a deal between the Canadian government and the military manufacturer was in the works.
Saab has a strong backing from the entire Swedish state machinery. The Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia led a business and political delegation to Canada earlier this month, further signalling that Sweden is doing everything it can to push the sale of Gripen. They were accompanied by Sweden’s deputy prime minister, Ebba Busch, defence minister, Pål Jonson, and over 60 industry members.
At the time, Prime Minister Mark Carney met the king and queen, where he announced the two countries were signing a strategic partnership “that extends from defence, to trade, to the environment and beyond.”
“I believe that in difficult times you should really choose your friends wisely, and this is the reason Sweden is choosing Canada,” said Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister Busch, adding Sweden is a maker of submarines and fighter jets — two things Canada plans to buy.
In addition to this high-level outreach, some experts believe that Saab launched a targeted 2025 social media drive, amplified by posts and influencers, generating buzz on social media platforms like X, Instagram, and Reddit. Posts highlighted hashtags like #GripenForCanada and typically talked about the advantages of Gripen over the American F-35 Lightning II.
After the results of the 2021 assessment were disclosed, several Swedish X users came in support of the Gripen. An account that goes by the name Thorstrike said: “Funny similarity: Moscow says you’re a ‘NATO puppet’ if you refuse Russian control. Washington says you’re a ‘bad ally’ if you refuse F-35 dependency. Different flags, same message: Small countries should not be fully sovereign — just pick your master.”
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