Canada reconsidering multi-billion dollar defense deal with the US

Amid heightening tensions with its neighbor to the south, Canada is reconsidering a multi-billion dollar defense deal with the U.S.

Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair said late on Friday that the government is looking at possible alternatives to the American-made F-35 stealth fighter and that they will speak to other aircraft manufacturers.

Blair’s comments came just hours after he was reappointed as defense minister by new Prime Minister Mark Carney. One day previously, Portugal indicated that it was planning on backtracking on its acquisition of the fighter jet.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada by economic force, and frequently referred to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor” as he argued that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.

Canadians are now increasingly supportive of ditching the $19 billion deal with the U.S. and find alternative aircraft to those made and maintained across its southern border.

In June 2023, after years of delay, the Liberal government signed a deal with the U.S. defense behemoth Lockheed Martin to buy 88 F-35s.

Blair told the CBC that the discussions with the military regarding what’s best for Canada are ongoing.

“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-35,” said Blair, according to CBC.

Canada has already paid for the first 16 jets, set to be delivered in early 2026.

The defense minister suggested that the first batch of the American-made fighter jets may be accepted but that the rest may come from European manufacturers, such as the Swedish-made Saab Gripen, which came in second in the bidding war for the Canadian contract.

“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,” said Blair.

The Swedish proposal did state that the assembly would take place in Canada and there would be a transfer of intellectual property, meaning that the aircraft would be maintained in Canada. Meanwhile, significant maintenance and software upgrades of the F-35 take place in the U.S.

However, the air force has been resistant to fly a mixed fleet of aircraft, despite doing so until the 1980s when the current CF-18s were bought, CBC noted. Two different training schemes would be needed, different hangars would be required, and the supply chains for the planes would vary. Defense planners have stated for decades that such a model would be too expensive.

Before Blair came out in favor of looking elsewhere, Lockheed Martin was asked about Portugal’s departure from the program and if it would impact Canada.

“Lockheed Martin values our strong partnership and history with the Royal Canadian Air Force and looks forward to continuing that partnership into the future,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement, according to CBC. “Foreign military sales are government-to-government transactions, so anything further will be best addressed by the U.S. or respective customer governments.”

The spokesperson, Lockheed Martin’s director of global media relations, Rebecca Miller, responded to online misinformation that the F-35s have a “kill switch” which would allow the U.S. to turn off aircraft bought by allies or restrict their capabilities if the U.S. government ordered Lockheed Martin to do so.

“As part of our government contracts, we deliver all system infrastructure and data required for all F-35 customers to sustain the aircraft,” said Miller. “We remain committed to providing affordable and reliable sustainment services to our customers that enable them to complete their missions and come home safely.”