Canada and the European Union are preparing to announce a joint purchase of 50 De Havilland water bombers, to be ready for use on both sides of the Atlantic in 2030. The plan appears in a draft joint statement for the Canada-EU summit in MontrΓ©al on 29 and 30 October 2026, first reported by Politico Europe and detailed by AeroTime.
What the draft says
According to Politico, Ottawa and Brussels will use the summit to announce an expansive new partnership covering trade, critical minerals, defence, support for Ukraine and investment in fighting wildfires. As part of that, the two sides "will also announce the joint purchase of 50 De Havilland water bombers, to be ready for use in Canada and Europe in 2030 to fight wildfires".
AeroTime reports that the document was circulated by the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper II) and the Working Party on Transatlantic Relations on 22 September 2026. The Council's cover note describes the text as "received from Canada" and asked member state delegations to send written comments by 28 September, with the wording still subject to negotiation ahead of the summit.
The draft does not say how the 50 aircraft would be divided between Canadian and European buyers.
The DHC-515
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada's current firefighting aircraft programme is the De Havilland Canadair 515, or DHC-515, the successor to the Canadair CL-215 and CL-415 amphibious water bombers. Like its predecessors, it is designed to scoop water from lakes or the sea and drop it on fires.
In a production update on 10 March 2026, the manufacturer said it was building 22 DHC-515s for Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, and had signed contracts with the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta. At that point the first DHC-515 was still in structural assembly: its cockpit and hull had been joined in Calgary, and the first wing box had been completed.
Europe's existing order
The 22 European aircraft are linked to rescEU, the reserve of emergency response assets created under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. De Havilland Canada and the EU concluded contract negotiations for the aircraft in October 2024. Twelve are financed by the European Commission to form a permanent rescEU fleet, while the other ten are national purchases. First deliveries are expected at the end of 2027.
The Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), Canada's government-to-government contracting agency, signed the contracts with the six European countries in 2024 and calls them the largest purchase order in De Havilland Canada's history. CCC says the agreements gave the company the certainty and scale needed to establish a new Canadair 515 production line in Canada.
Croatia, for example, signed for two DHC-515s. According to CCC, the country currently operates six CL-415s and will increase its aerial firefighting programme by one third with the new aircraft.
The draft summit statement does not make clear whether some or all of the 22 existing European aircraft would count toward the proposed 50-aircraft Canada-EU purchase, AeroTime notes.
A wider Canada-EU agenda
The water bomber plan sits inside a much broader package. Politico reports that the draft also commits the two sides to speeding up investment in critical mineral projects, strengthening supply chains and stockpiling critical resources. According to AeroTime, it also says Canada and the EU will open negotiations on a framework for Canadian participation in Galileo, the EU's satellite navigation programme.
"Canada and the EU, with our unparalleled trade access, shared values, and complementary economic strengths, can build a deeper and more integrated relationship," the draft reads, according to Politico.
In announcing the Croatian contract, CCC said Croatia, like the rest of Europe and Canada, faces significant wildfire seasons "as our summers become both longer and hotter". The final wording of the summit statement, the split of the 50 aircraft between buyers and the delivery schedule will only become clear once the text is agreed and published in MontrΓ©al.
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