Stelia Aerospace North America has confirmed that airplane parts produced at the company’s Lunenburg facility were part of the fighter jets used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in the ongoing genocide of civilians in Gaza.
A representative for the company called the Government of Canada pause on authorizing new arms export permits to Israel “misguided”.
Local Company Confirms Lunenburg Connection to Bombardment of Gaza
Stelia Aerospace North America is a subsidiary of French-owned Stelia Aerospace that was founded in 1988.
Their company headquarters is on the southwestern edge of the Town of Lunenburg.
The company website states Stelia is an “aerospace and defence company specializing in the design, development, and manufacturing of composites.”
They cater to a broad array of clients, including: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Sikorsky, Leonardo, L3Harris, Airbus Atlantic, Boeing, Bombardier, De Havilland, ARDE, and MDA.
The Lunenburg facility has recently come under public attention after a report by the anti-war non-profit group, Arms Embargo Now showed the company’s connection to events in Gaza.
The Arms Embargo Now report revealed that the Stelia Aerospace’s Lunenburg facility manufactures aircraft parts, which are used by the U.S.-owned military aircraft producer Lockheed Martin to assemble F-35 fighter jets used by the IDF in their recent campaign in Gaza.
Specifically, the company builds fuselage panels and parts used in the opening and closing of weapon bay doors.
The Luneburg Barnacle reached out to Bernard Mills, CEO & Managing Director of Stelia Aerospace North America for comment.
Mills confirms that Arms Embargo Now’s findings were correct.
“All F35 aircraft including those operated by the IDF in Gaza have our parts on them.”
Mills explains that their parts are in all F-35 fighter jets used by many different countries for both military and civilian purposes.
“The supply chain for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a long-standing and genuinely global one, with fuselages primarily assembled in the USA but with secondary facilities in Denmark, Israel and Germany. Our parts go onto these fuselages, and we normally supply all locations. The fuselages then return to the USA for final aircraft integration by Lockheed Martin and distribution to all F35 customer countries (including Canada, when our own country starts taking deliveries). It is very important to note therefore that not all parts delivered to Israel end up on IDF aircraft, as end-customer nations may get aircraft drawn from any one of the assembly locations.”
The Arms Embargo Now report detailed that Stelia’s Lunenburg-produced aircraft parts were exported to the Israeli company Elbit Systems-Cyclone, which designs and makes metal and composite parts for the assembly of military aircraft.
The report, on page nine, shows that there were five different shipments of “military aircraft parts” between November 2023 and September 2024 that went from the Stelia Aerospace factory in Lunenburg (via the port of Halifax) to Elbit Systems-Cyclone in Karmiel, Israel.
In response to questions about the findings of the Arms Embargo Now report, Mills shares, “Stelia is in fact immensely proud that we, and the South Shore community get to contribute to an aircraft that is so central to maintaining international security and stability.”
Export Ban Not Stopping Entry of Canadian-Produced Weapons Parts to Israel
Critics of the company, such as Arms Embargo Now, argue that the extent of violence committed by the IDF against civilians in Gaza means that governments ought to block arms exports to Israel.
The IDF—following an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel killing 815 civilians and taking 251 people hostage—began an almost three-year long siege and occupation campaign under the nominal justification of releasing the hostages.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that 62,004 people—mostly civilians—have been killed in the conflict as of August 2025. These estimates, however, have recently come under scrutiny as “a horrifying undercount” due to the operational difficulties of reporting the full extent of death under current conditions in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Gaza have all determined that Israel’s activity in Gaza is “genocidal in character”.
The World Health Organization has recently declared that civilians in Gaza are experiencing a famine caused by Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid. Media organizations worldwide have denounced the IDF’s targeting of journalists covering the conflict.
These developments have led many in Canada to demand action from the Federal Government to do what they can to stop the genocide in Gaza.
The Government of Canada, on Jan. 8, 2024, said that they paused new export permits for arms to Israel following public pressure to impose an arms embargo on Israel to stop their operation in Gaza.
The Barnacle asked Mills if Stelia had been able to get their airplane parts to Israel despite the export permit ban. He responded, “No we haven’t. … Our direct deliveries to Israel (noting we deliver to an assembly facility in Israel, not to the Israeli government) are paused in accordance with the pause in export permits. We are formally not permitted to export military parts to any country without export permits.”
In the statement, Mills also criticized Canada’s export ban.
“We do stress – as per the above description – that in the case of the F35 aircraft, the export permit pause by Canada is misguided as it impacts a global supply chain of aircraft that are vital to global security, not just a specific delivery of aircraft parts to be primarily used by the IDF.”
There is no reported commercial impact due to the export ban.
“Due to the importance globally of the F35 aircraft, our deliveries continue to the other assembly facilities. Arrangements are then made by those facilities to manage the overall supply chain and parts availability,” writes Mills.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan Initiates Members Bill to Close Loophole
On Sept. 5, 2025, Jenny Kwan, NDP Member of Parliament, initiated a members bill calling for an end to loopholes that allow Canadian-made bullets, weapons and military components to continue to be exported despite the ban.
“Canada signed onto the Arms Trade Treaty in 2019, but under the past and current Liberal government, loopholes and half-measures have left our commitments meaningless,” said Kwan. “While civilians are being bombed and starved, Canada is shipping bullets and weapons parts. This needs to stop now – we need transparency and accountability immediately.”
The loophole in question allows Canadian-made weapons to flow to Israel through the U.S.
The bill will be tabled for First Reading later in September when Parliament resumes.
Local Activist Group Calling for Arms Embargo
Local activist group South Shore Ceasefire Now has been “organizing and advocating for a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict and increased humanitarian aid for the people of the Gaza Strip” since October 2023.
On Nov. 16, 2024, as part of a national “F-35 Day of Action” organized by Arms Embargo Now, the group planned a march along the streets of Lunenburg to the manufacturer’s headquarters.
Dozens of protestors stood outside the facility calling for an end to manufacturing F-35 parts in Canada.
Stelia Aerospace North America to Continue Pursuing Exports to Israel
The Barnacle asked Mills if the company was aware that their parts could be used in acts that international courts have ruled constitute acts of genocide. Mills response writes,
“Any combat aircraft can by definition be involved in military operations that have detractors. Warfare and security operations are serious and consequential events, and it is natural that a range of opinions and emotions exist around them. We were obviously aware that the IDF was one of many customer countries receiving the F35 aircraft. We note that access by any country to such equipment is strictly controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and as such was approved by the US Department of State. We also note that the IDF ordered and started taking deliveries of F35’s in 2016, many years before the current crisis. Beyond that, any nation’s accountability for the operational use of its military assets is a matter for the international courts and for diplomatic dialogue between political and military leaders, so we don’t have any comment on those matters.”
The Barnacle also asked if Israel’s bombardment of civilians in Gaza and the resulting public backlash has led the company to stop exporting to Israel. Mills stated that Stelia will continue to seek exporting parts to Israel, asserting that such judgments are for the international legal community to decide.
“Stelia would never respond in our decision making to general public sentiment. We work on complex parts for the world’s most advanced civilian, emergency-response and military aircraft. In all cases the production, sale and use of these aircraft are bound by major international agreements, regulations, laws and treaties. It is at that level, not ours, that informed decisions need to be taken about the permissibility of how those aircraft are used by various nations.”
Dr. Christy Kelly-Bisson is a political economist and garlic farmer living in Sulieweykitk (New Germany), Lunenburg County. You can follow them on Bluesky at @garlicbreath644.bsky.social
