As Canada reassesses its military strategy and investments, Bombardier CEO Éric Martel affirms that his company is ready to actively contribute to national defense.
Returning from the prestigious Paris Air Show, he shares with Patrick Lagacé his vision of the role Bombardier could play in a potential strategic shift by the Canadian government, particularly in light of the F-35 fighter jet acquisition program. A lucid interview on the industrial and patriotic ambitions of a Quebec flagship.
More details here: https://www.985fm.ca/audio/707265/on-...
He is back from the prestigious show, the Bourget, as it is called in the world of aeronautics. It takes place in France. It is the great gathering of aircraft, the great gathering of aviation spending. Éric Martel is the President and CEO of Bombardier. Hello, Mr. Martel.
It was an extremely busy show for us and for the entire show. I think last year there were 350,000 people who visited it. It was expected to break new records this year. Clearly, you know, it's a show mainly for commercial aircraft. So Bombardier, we went there more because it was mainly for business jets, it's not the best place. However, in recent years between the NBAA and the Bourget in alternate years, we have increased our presence. This year, we had a chalet for defense simply. So we were there under the name Bombardier Defense, which is our new division we created about three years ago for all sorts of reasons. We created that division. First, we thought we had extremely competitive products for the needs, and obviously, as you know, the geopolitical context has evolved enormously.
Because when you talk to me about the geopolitical context, it's the whole movement of investment in military spending, whether in Canada, but also we see it in Europe. Everyone is afraid of the Russian threat. Everyone wants to invest in their army in a context where the Americans no longer guarantee the security of others. It's tragic from the point of view of the balance of the world, but for Bombardier, it's good business.
Well, it's an opportunity. And we had read this situation a bit three years ago. That's why we formalized it. We knew we had competitive products. We were already working with the Pentagon. We were already working with several places in the world. We have, among other things, a surveillance aircraft that is extremely efficient.
Well, it was a derivative. That one is an aircraft with torpedoes to attack submarines. It's different, but it's the same model. It's built on the Global 6500, which is very successful. And the Global 6500 served for that aircraft. Moreover, we had other discussions this week in Paris. We announced a partnership with Leonardo, a huge Italian defense company with a turnover of nearly 20 billion euros per year, and they are currently working on a project with the United Arab Emirates, and they have already chosen to use Bombardier's Global 6500. This week, our partner SAB sold two aircraft to the French army, which is quite unique. You know, the French have a great sovereignty over their military equipment, just like the Americans. They have their own fighter jets, the Rafales for example. It's a matter of national sovereignty.
Absolutely. And that's interesting, it was de Gaulle who, about fifty or sixty years ago, gave the mission. He said: 'Me, after the experience of what happened, I want my country to have sovereignty over military equipment and be capable of having control over it ourselves.' Something that we in Canada have obviously lost a lot of. We have become very, very dependent on our southern neighbors. We are dependent on our southern neighbors. There is Boeing, but there are many other contractors. Our tanks, we are not able to have them ourselves. But I ask you the question: we have a problem with the development program of the F-35, which is an American fighter jet. And now with what's happening at the White House, there are people who say maybe it's not a good idea to have American fighter jets. Do you think it's a good idea to have American fighter jets?
But listen, I think the context has evolved so much that we need to question it. I think the current Prime Minister does. You heard him, I think the word 'sovereignty' comes up occasionally in terms of our military equipment. I think there are decisions that will be reviewed. He already announced it, by the way. And I think that for us, Bombardier, we are proud of that. We would like to be able to contribute to the defense of our own country. We have Canadian employees in our factories. We manufacture a lot, but at the same time, we manufacture many things in the United States. We have 2,800 suppliers. The Pentagon is a customer of Bombardier. So I think we need to find the middle ground. We are not capable today. We have lost in the last 50 to 60 years that capability, for example to make a fighter. We could find it again with true will, but we must be patient, it will take time. But I think we need to start somewhere with a long-term vision.
11 more exchanges in this transcript
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Martel, É. (2025, June 20). "We would like to contribute to the defense of our own country" - Éric Martel [Interview transcript]. Cogeco Média. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1034397/
MLA
Éric Martel. ""We would like to contribute to the defense of our own country" - Éric Martel." Cogeco Média, 20 Jun. 2025. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1034397/.
BibTeX
@misc{martel2025_1034397,
author = {Éric Martel},
title = {"We would like to contribute to the defense of our own country" - Éric Martel},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Cogeco Média. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2025},
month = {jun},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1034397/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
