After U.S. President Donald Trump launched a tariff war against Canada and repeatedly called the country the USA's "51st state", local experts began a discussion in absentia about whether their military should completely abandon the further purchase of American F-35A fifth-generation fighters — the reasoning being the fears that Trump could remotely disable the machines.
Now, Canadian officials have announced that they are considering other aircraft options, as stated by National Defense Minister Bill Blair. As he told CBC News, Ottawa is currently studying potential alternatives to the F-35 stealth fighter produced in the U.S. and will hold negotiations with manufacturers of this aircraft's competitors on the market.
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Retrospectively, Canada's acquisition of American F-35A fighters has been quite a long history with its own scandals, Defense Express adds. Issues began already in 2010 when the then-minister of defense first announced an open tender on fighters for the Canadian military, only to later declare an immediate purchase of 65 F-35s for $9 billion without any tenders.
This caused disputes (including, or rather, primarily in the political sense) about the expediency of buying these aircraft, considering both the financial aspect and whether they even need these fighters in the first place. Even Boeing and Dassault Aviation complained: they argued that their offers were no less suitable for the needs of the Canadian Air Force, but the Canadian defense department ignored them. In the end, the controversial F-35 acquisition still proceeded with a contract officially signed in 2023 for the supply of 88 aircraft.
However, it seems that Canada will not be able to simply abort the contract since they have already paid for the supply of the first 16 American aircraft, so one option may be to accept them and stop to cut further supplies short (the potential penalties yet unknown) and focus on obtaining a different platform.
Among the most likely candidates is the Saab JAS 39 Gripen, which was bested by the F-35 in the competition for the Canadian contract. Worth reminding that back in 2021, Saab noted that if the Gripen E becomes the winner, the company was ready to produce and maintain the aircraft right in Canada.
That said, we should not forget that the Gripen E/F is equipped with the F414 engine from the American company General Electric, which may also pose a problem when securing a possible deal in the future.
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