By Paul Vieira
OTTAWA--Canada said Tuesday it would acquire 26 rocket launchers from Lockheed Martin, and in exchange the U.S. company agreed to include Canadian firms into its global supply chain and make investments here.
The deal for the rocket launchers is valued at about 2.6 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of $1.8 billion. The deal was negotiated in January but only disclosed now, Canada's defense department said in a statement.
News of the transaction comes about a week after Canada opted to pass over Lockheed Martin and another U.S. firm, L3Harris Technologies, in plans to acquire aircraft-surveillance aircraft from Sweden's Saab. Canada is implementing an industrial-defense strategy that pledges to favor domestic firms when completing military purchases.
The missile-and-rocket launchers are known as Himars, an acronym for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. They are trucks that carry expendable pods of rockets or missiles. Himars "was identified as the only solution that best met Canada's operational and technical requirements," the defense department said. It added there is no Canadian producer of the launcher system and Himars isn't commercially available.
Canada said Lockheed Martin agreed to integrate Canadian companies into global supply chains, invest in research and development, and support small- and mid-sized firms.
Kristen Leroux, Lockheed Martin vice president in charge of Canada and Latin America, said the company is committed to strengthening Canada's defense sector, and the planned investments will fuel growth for small- and mid-sized firms "and deliver cutting edge Canadian technology to the aerospace and defense industry."
The deal was done through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, which allows for the sale of U.S. military equipment to foreign governments.
Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 02, 2026 18:51 ET (22:51 GMT)
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