Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked for a review of Canada’s plan to purchase a fleet of F-35 fighter jets.
The deal with Lockheed Martin and the U.S. government is for 88 planes at a cost of about US$85 million each.
A spokesperson for Defence Minister Bill Blair said Carney has asked Blair to look into whether the F-35 contract is the best investment for Canada, or if there are better options.
“We need to do our homework given the changing environment, and make sure that the contract in its current form is in the best interests of Canadians and the Canadian Armed Forces,” Blair’s press secretary Laurent de Casanove said.
Jets are notoriously bad for guerilla warfare. They require long straight runways that are incredibly hard to hide or move, they require serious maintenance that is hard to do in the field (if you can even land them “in the field”), they require massive amounts of training to be used effectively. There’s a reason Ukraine takes out more jets at bases than in the air - it’s just easier.
Any successful military action by Canada against the United States isn’t going to be conventional. Piles of drones (and other equipment) would give far more bang for the buck.