Canada reassesses F-35 purchase, considers alternatives amid political tensions
U.S. Air Force's F-35 fifth-generation fighter aircraft takes off during Aero India 2025, a military aviation exhibition at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru on February 12, 2025. (AFP Photo)
Canada is considering alternatives to the US-made F-35 stealth fighters and initiating talks with competing aircraft manufacturers, Defense Minister Bill Blair announced late Friday, just hours after being reappointed to the role in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s newly established Cabinet.
His remarks came after Portugal indicated that it plans to abandon its purchase of the advanced warplane.
The reassessment in Canada is occurring amid a fierce political battle with the Trump administration over tariffs and threats from the US president to annex Canada through economic pressure.
Years of delays, rising tensions
After years of delays, the Liberal government finalized a contract with the US defense giant Lockheed Martin in June 2023 to purchase 88 F-35 jets.
“It was the fighter jet identified by our air force as the platform that they required, but we are also examining other alternatives—whether we need all of those fighter jets to be F-35s,” Blair told CBC’s Power&Politics.
Canada has already put down its money for the first 16 warplanes, which are due to be delivered early next year.
Blair said the first F-35s might be accepted, and the remainder of the fleet would be made up of aircraft from European suppliers, such as the Swedish-built Saab Gripen, which finished second in the competition.
“The prime minister has asked me to go and examine those things and have discussions with other sources, particularly where there may be opportunities to assemble those fighter jets in Canada,” Blair said.
“Lockheed Martin values our strong partnership and history with the Royal Canadian Air Force and looks forward to continuing that partnership into the future,” Rebecca Miller, Lockheed Martin’s director of global media relations, said.
“Foreign military sales are government-to-government transactions, so anything further will be best addressed by the US or respective customer governments,” Miller said in a statement.
