(OTTAWA) – Canada is facing growing domestic pressure to cancel or scale back its multi-billion dollar deal to purchase 88 American made F-35 stealth fighter jets as trade tensions with the United States intensify under President Donald Trump.
The deal, worth tens of billions of dollars, took years to negotiate. The Royal Canadian Air Force has argued the F-35 is the best aircraft for confronting advanced threats from Russia and China. However, Sweden’s cheaper Saab Gripen has emerged as a potential alternative.
British Columbia Premier David Eby summarised the growing sentiment: “When your friend kicks you in the back, one of the first rules is you don’t then go and buy $12 billion worth of fighter jets from that person. It makes absolutely no sense.”
The “kick in the back” refers to the 50 percent tariffs the United States slapped on hundreds of Canadian exports. Canada responded with tariffs of its own, but calls are growing for the F-35 purchase to be axed.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has already ordered a review into the order.
Wesley Wark, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo and an expert on national security and intelligence issues, said the concerns extend beyond the emotional response to Trump.
“The growing concern frankly is a real concern about whether the F-35, quite apart from the emotional environment around it, is actually the best kind of plane for Canada to buy,” Wark said.
He noted that Canada’s new defence industrial strategy emphasises rebuilding a Canadian defence industrial base. “Once upon a time Canada used to build its own fighter jets. It’s long since not done that. So there’s an economic problem which is that really buying these very expensive jets from the United States doesn’t really provide much of an economic benefit for Canada.”
Wark also questioned whether the F-35 suits Canada’s unique security needs, many of which focus on Canadian sovereignty and Arctic security issues, as well as working with Nordic countries on Arctic security.
“Canada is locked into buying some of them, but do we need to buy all of them?” Wark said.
The F-35 is a symbol of trust and cooperation in the Western world. The United Kingdom, Australia, Italy and others already fly it. Canada is supposed to be joining that group.
Regarding the aircraft itself, Wark confirmed that Canada would receive planes exactly like those flown by the United States Air Force. “There’s no question about that and that’s not really an issue.”
However, he raised concerns about future upgrades. “What happens in five, ten, fifteen years when you need to upgrade some of the very sophisticated sensor packages? You might need to upgrade the weapons systems, make all kinds of modifications to the plane to keep it at the top of its class. And there’s been a lot of concern about, well, the United States could decide, well, we’re just not going to give Canada those upgrades.”
On the question of NORAD, Wark noted that the commander of NORAD, an American Air Force general, told the United States Senate that the F-35 is not needed for North American aerospace defence. The commander reportedly said he would like more fighter jets close to fifth generation, such as the Saab Gripen.
“The reality is that the F-35 is a certain kind of plane and no one is denying it has unique capabilities. It’s probably the best fighter jet in the world if you want to penetrate someone else’s airspace and avoid their radar and deliver weapons. But that’s really not the top priority for Canada in terms of its needs,” Wark said.
Canada needs an air defence fighter for surveillance, air patrols and deterrence on its northern flank, which is also NATO’s northern flank. Canada has the world’s second largest Arctic coastline.
“The F-35 is not particularly good at doing that. But other jets could be,” Wark said.
The Saab Gripen is manufactured by the Swedish defence company Saab. It is an older design, not stealthy like the F-35, and lacks its long range sensors. However, it is cheaper both in terms of the sticker price and maintenance.
Wark said the Gripen has advantages for Canada. “It’s actually a faster fighter jet than the F-35. It’s a jet that you can more easily operate in the extremes of an Arctic climate like Canada’s North.”
Saab has indicated it is prepared to deliver Gripens as soon as Canada can receive them and as soon as Canadian pilots are trained. The company has also suggested Canada could build the Gripens domestically, with Saab transferring technology and intellectual property.
“That would take us back to a point in time, probably like 60 years ago, when we last built a fighter jet. And that’s a very attractive thing for Canada because we’re trying to rebuild some of these defence industrial capabilities,” Wark said.
Saab has also told Canada that many countries are now shopping for the Gripen, and if Canada established a factory, it could export from there. Saab planes have been offered to Ukraine, and Brazil is building its own factory to manufacture them.
Regarding the existing F-35 contract, Wark said the details are secret, but by all accounts Canada is committed to buying at least 16 F-35s. Canadian pilots are already training in Arizona on the first aircraft.
“The real issue is, do we want to buy the full promised package of 88 F-35s? And this is where the big price tag comes in. Or do we just stay with the 16 and decide that we’re going to expand the Royal Canadian Air Force by purchasing some other kind of jet?” Wark said.
The Saab Gripen came second behind the F-35 in Canada’s original fighter jet competition in the early 2020s, making it the obvious alternative.
Wark emphasised that Canada is in the midst of a fast paced and expensive process of modernising its armed forces. “We are pouring money into defence in an unprecedented way. Usually people say Canada has not done this kind of defence rearmament drive since really the end of the Second World War.”
Canada has NATO commitments including ground troops in Latvia.
“The political frictions with Washington are real and they’re very serious, but they’re a bit of a distraction to some of these other questions, which is really we have to get on with it and acquire this new fleet of fighter jets because the ones that we have have been in service since the 1980s and sooner or later they’re just going to fall out of the sky,” Wark said.
The Carney government cannot sit on the fence for very long. “The decision outcome is probably already cast and that is we have to buy some F-35s. We’ll try and keep the Americans happy with the number that we buy, but we’re also going to have to buy an alternative to that plane because frankly the Canadian public could not stomach, as the British Columbia premier said, the idea of going completely forward with this purchase.”
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