Good morning. Yesterday an F-16 fighter jet lifted off from Luke Air Force base and tore through the skies above the Arizona desert at up to 1,100 km/h. That jet was owned by a Montreal-based company most Canadians have never heard of, Top Aces Inc. More on the company and its role in Canada’s military export ambitions are in focus today, plus more updates from the Middle East:

Resources: Canadian Natural pauses its $8.25-billion oil-sands expansion, citing uncertainty over government policies as well as calling for the end of carbon pricing

Trade: After months of stalled negotiations, Dominic LeBlanc, the federal minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, is heading to Washington for talks

Procurement: Ottawa says it still plans to select a single bidder to replace Canada’s aging fleet of submarines

Despite efforts to decarbonize the global economy, when oil supply is seriously disrupted, financial and economic turmoil is never far behind. In 1973, fossil fuels accounted for about 87 per cent of total global energy supply. That number today: 81 per cent. Yesterday, stocks ended sharply lower as oil spiked to above US$80 a barrel. Follow here for the latest news updates today.

• The war with Iran is pushing the price of critical fertilizers higher, just as farmers across North America begin the spring planting season and are in need of crop nutrients.
• U.S. President Donald Trump’s maritime security vow for the Strait of Hormuz is implausible after his Venezuelan turnabout, writes Rita Trichur

Hi, I’m Jason Kirby, a reporter here at The Globe, and author of the cover story in the latest issue of Report on Business magazine on Top Aces, one of Canada’s quietest yet most remarkable export success stories.

What’s Top Aces?

Launched 25 years ago by a trio of former Canadian fighter pilots, Top Aces has provided adversary and other types of air training to armed forces in Canada, the U.S., across Europe and Australia.

For many Allied militaries, especially in Europe, the Russia-Ukraine war was a wake-up call, as was Trump’s pressure campaign on NATO allies to increase their defence spending. Earlier this year, Top Aces signed a $680-million, 10-year contract with the German military. A number of other European contracts are on the horizon.

In its role, the company provides pilots and aircraft from its fleet of 70-plus active jets for training missions. Often that entails playing the bad guys in mock attacks on naval vessels or in dog fights with other jets – think Viper and Jester training Tom Cruise in the original Top Gun movie.

The jet from Luke Air Force base I mentioned above is a case in point. You can track the flight path here using FlightAware, under the callsign ACES1 (though you won’t see any U.S. air force aircraft it may have been on the mission with).

How our story came together

Until two years ago, I was completely unaware Canada was home to a company at the cutting edge of live air combat training. I stumbled upon Top Aces one morning while reading a thread by a U.S. economist and aviation enthusiast, Patrick Chovanec, who was using Microsoft’s Flight Simulator software to retrace the 1981 Israeli bombing raid that obliterated Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor.

In one post, he mentioned offhand that a small company started by former Canadian fighter pilots had recently purchased a fleet of F-16 jets, making it the only private company to own such advanced fighter aircraft.

I was hooked, though it took more than a year of requests and on-again, off-again interview plans before CEO Paul Bouchard and his co-founder, group president Didier Toussaint, met with me during a frigid day in Saguenay, Que., where Top Aces has one of its three Canadian bases alongside Canadian Forces Base Bagotville.

This is me in one of the company’s A-4 Skyhawk jets, which like the rest of Top Aces’ fleet is a vintage aircraft it has upgraded with sensors and tech like infrared search and track systems, advanced radar and data links, all to replicate threats posed by enemy fighters.