Swedish defense contractor Saab has signed a memorandum of understanding with Canadian AI vendor Cohere, in a collaboration the companies say will focus on bringing AI tools to the aerospace industry.
In particular, the deal will focus on Saab’s airborne early warning and control system, GlobalEye, which it is jointly producing with Canadian aerospace manufacturer Bombardier.
Using a combination of active and passive sensors, GlobalEye enables long-range detection and identification of objects across air, sea and land.
The partners say the collaboration will examine the opportunity to roll out GlobalEye in Canada, while also supporting “existing and future international operators.”
Under the deal, the partners will develop a framework to support uptake of AI across areas such as data-driven mission support, maintenance tools and information processing.
The companies said they have already identified Initial projects for development but did not disclose more details.
“Canada offers outstanding industrial and advanced technology partners,” Micael Johansson, Saab’s CEO, said in a release. “Working with Canadian companies like Cohere on emerging technologies strengthens our global supply chain and enhances Saab’s international competitiveness.”
“Frontier artificial intelligence should be built for scale, trust, reliability and most importantly, real-world impact,” Ivan Zhang, co-founder of Cohere, said in the release. “We’ll explore pushing the boundaries of what AI can truly deliver for aerospace, enabling teams to process complex data faster, increase operational tempo, surface key insights with clarity and support critical decision making when it matters most.”
The agreement comes amidst a wave of defense contracts formalizing AI adoption across Western militaries. The U.S. has been a particular forerunner in this, with the country’s defense department awarding contracts to companies including OpenAI, Google and Anthropic to develop AI for national security missions.
The U.S. Navy also recently completed its largest-ever robotics contract, enlisting Gecko Robotics to use its AI and robotic tools for maintenance and repairs on its marine assets.
