An airplane shell under construction at MHI Canada Aerospace manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Ont., on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan

By The Canadian Press

Saab signs deal with Canadian AI firm Cohere on Global Eye jets

Mar 23, 2026 | 11:54 AM

OTTAWA — Swedish defence contractor Saab says it has signed an agreement with Canadian artificial intelligence company Cohere to explore partnering on its Global Eye surveillance aircraft.

Saab is trying to convince Canada to purchase the Global Eye, an early warning radar aircraft that it is jointly producing with Canadian aerospace manufacturer Bombardier.

The federal government is in the market for a new surveillance plane and is expected to spend upward of $5 billion on a fleet of six aircraft, according to information posted online by National Defence.

The aircraft uses Montreal-based Bombardier’s Global 6500 airframes, which are made in Mississauga.

Saab said its agreement with Cohere is directly connected to its efforts to sell Canada the Global Eye, but the agreement extends to international Global Eye operations as well.

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“Right now, we’re looking at pilot projects we would invest in to see how their large language models can be used in information-digestion connected to the Global Eye of course first, but also in other areas,” Micael Johansson told The Canadian Press at an event in Ottawa on Monday.

The 2025 Liberal platform states the government intends to buy “Canadian-made airborne early warning and control aircraft” to support the domestic aerospace industry.

The Canadian government has in recent months placed a series of orders for Global 6500 jets separate from the purchase of surveillance aircraft.

Another likely contender for the surveillance aircraft contract is Boeing, which makes the E-7 Wedgetail early warning aircraft, based on the Boeing 737 airframe.

Cohere, meanwhile, has in recent months teamed up with both German submarine manufacturer TKMS and South Korean firm Hanwha Oceans.

Both those firms are bidding on the multi-billion-dollar contract to supply the Royal Canadian Navy with its next fleet of up to 12 submarines.

While Saab’s focus has been on selling the Global Eye, it has also become the subject of intense political intrigue for more than a year now.

The federal Liberal government continues to mull over its planned purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets from the American firm Lockheed Martin — a political review initiated in March 2025, after U.S. President Donald Trump launched his trade war.

Saab’s Gripen fighter jet was the runner-up in Canada’s future fighter procurement competition and Saab has said it can assemble the jets in Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2026.

The Canadian Press