South Korea Foreign Minister visits Bombardier Assembly Plant in Toronto
Press Release
Thursday, November 13
Today, Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Minister Cho Hyun visited the Bombardier assembly plant at Toronto Pearson International Airport while in Canada for the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
Minister Cho noted Bombardier's significant contribution to enhancing the ROK's defence capabilities, highlighting that the company's 'Global 6500' will serve as a common platform for special mission aircraft, including the Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C), scheduled to be introduced into the ROK Air Force. The Minister also noted his pleasure to witness the reciprocal security and defence cooperation between Korea and Canada, at a time when the scope of shared strategic interests between the two countries is expanding amid regional and global security challenges.
Furthermore, Minister Cho expressed the ROK's commitment to actively contribute to Canada's defence modernization, including the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), just as Canada has helped to strengthen the ROK's defence capabilities. In this process, he hoped for continued close collaboration with Bombardier, one of the major players in Canada's defence industry.
During the visit, Bombardier officials provided Minister Cho with a tour of the main facilities. The company also conveyed its desire to expand defence and aviation cooperation with the ROK and requested the continued interest and support of the Korean government.
Noah Note: If there is any winner from recent events it is Bombardier, who no matter what future will continue to win contracts. Of course the Korean government recently chose the Global-based Phoenix from L3 as their future AEWC aircraft.
KAI is also proposing a Global-based Electronic Warfare Aircraft (using the same design as Phoenix) and a Global-based Maritime Patrol Aircraft to the Republic of Korea for other projects. Overall KAI is backing the Global as a family of aircraft, something I am happy to support.
You should expect to see more visits like this. There is now an open mandate to get partnerships formed between Korean and Canadian industry, and while I did nt attend, I have been told to expect more news and announcements coming out of the Canadian-Korean Defence Roadshow.
Oooh, a Global Maritime Patrol Aircraft? Kinda makes you wonder why we didn't start investing & developing 1 5+ years ago. 🙄😒 Maybe we can work with KAI (& Saab?) to get something to market ASAP. Even if it is a lower end solution to P-8 (& will attract much acron from RCAF), CAF/CCG probably still have a use case for it... & It seems to have viable export potential.