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The story
U.S. defense and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin has reportedly acquired Ultra Maritime, an undersea defense company based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, for $3.45 billion USD. On the Canadian Lemmy community c/canada, the news sparked criticism of Canada’s distinctive “branch-plant economy” mentality — the tendency to grow domestic companies only to sell them off to foreign capital. At the same time, some pointed out that Ultra Maritime was already foreign-owned to begin with, making this just a deal between two American companies, leaving commenters divided on how far the label “loss of domestic industry” should really be stretched.
Defense giant Lockheed Martin acquires Nova Scotia-based undersea warfare company
U.S. defense and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin has acquired Ultra Maritime, a Nova Scotia-based undersea defense company, for $3.45 billion USD.
Shouldn’t domestic industries be protected?
Source: cbc.ca / Original article here
What people said
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Ultra Maritime wasn’t originally a Canadian-born company to begin with — it was a business unit left over in Nova Scotia under Britain’s Cobham (which later absorbed Ultra Electronics), so this acquisition is less a case of “a Canadian company being seized by foreign capital” and more a transfer from British capital to American capital. In the thread, the central debate was criticism of the “branch-plant economy”: the government talks tough and protectionist about domestic steelmaker Stelco, yet doesn’t intervene in deals like this one. The other recurring thread was security-related unease about Canadian-made military technology ending up in American hands, with some commenters worrying — amid shaky U.S.-Canada relations — that it could someday be turned back on Canada itself. Worth noting this remains speculative; no actual technology diversion has occurred.
*This article is an edited, condensed Japanese adaptation of the thread “Defence giant Lockheed Martin acquires N.S.-based undersea warfare company” from the overseas forum Lemmy c/canada. Our editorial team is responsible for the translation.
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