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.
I’m glad you’re doing this, but ultimately sad because love is irrational and I love the F-35.
Prime Minister Carney, I have several better solutions. Cancel the F-35 and examine the Saab JAS-39 Gripen, Dassault Rafael, or the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Can I interest you in a Eurofighter Typhoon?
Tbf. The F35 owns the sky. The Typhoon wins in a dog fight, but the way the F35 operates it eliminates the threat long before the dog fight. I would love for a European fifth generation replacing the F35 tho’
Dogfights aren’t a thing anymore in modern aviation. There’s a reason it was barely considered in the procurement process that led to the F-35 acquisition. Sure hope other countries step up to the plate to build viable exportable alternatives to the F-35.
They said this before Vietnam and it was wrong. Ironically if truly stealth fighters with low radar and ir profiles were to engage each other in the air they would probably end up using guns primarily again as radar/ir guided missiles wouldn’t be reliable in this event.
Only if the F-35 is fully operational. $2 trillion later and the damn thing is still a maintenance pig.
Me personally? I’d love to say yes, but I’m a bit skint atm…could I get it on IOU?
Okay, make some space in the drive and I’ll bring it over later.
Fuck yeah! Canada will vote with its dollar!
Heck yeah. Go Carney.
With love from Portugal. 🇵🇹🤝🇨🇦
Welcome to the carnival!
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CARNAGE!
Seems stupid to buy defense resources from a country that could become hostile. Do any European companies have anything to offer? I get that GOS and a lot of resources are still probably going to come from the USA but right now, the less the better.
It also seems stupid to keep importing on a mass scale the culture, news, entertainment, media, and media platforms of a country that wants to invade Canada. Yet here we are.
I would be thrilled if all American social media was blocked 100%. Sweep the trolls back into their caves.
I’d love that too.
I mean to be fair this hostility is being perpetrated by one man and just in the past 2 months. Zero of those things would change in that short amount of time.
It began with one man then was instantly magnified by major news agencies (Fox, CNN) and by his millions of cultish sycophants who hang off his every word.
The Swedish Saab Gripen would be a good choice. It would include assembly and maintenance in Canada.
I read somewhere they operate with a licensed American engine, and that some European nations are trying to replace it with a non-American one… Yeah, it’s a development of an F-18 engine.
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Canada could do the funniest thing rn by buying J-35s at half the price.
It would be funny, but damn I would not want to buy military equipment from china
USA: We want to annex Canada. We are not joking
Canadians: Ooh China is very scary.
China is Canada’s second biggest trade partner, unless they’re planning to follow America to war with China, what’s the problem? Especially because it’s for a military that was designed for the singular purpose of defending itself from an American invasion over the last 70 years.
What’s the problem?? China has shown its intent in other parts of the world with its ‘belt and road’ initiative and, tbh, Canada has little incentive to join that. Never mind the fact that the scumbag Stephen Harper locked us into a decidedly one-sided, 31 year long FIPPA with China that can’t end until 2045.
Added to that is all the money laundering and fraud that China committed here beginning in the '90s.
Most Canadians are aware of this stuff, so are wary of joining forces with China in any way, shape or form.
China has shown its intent in other parts of the world with its ‘belt and road’ initiative
That intent being mutual development so other countries are less dependent on China’s enemy and their economies can’t be leveraged against China?
No. Their manipulation of poorer nations where China ‘lends’ them the money to complete projects that primarily benefit China, leaving the nations forever in China’s debt.
You’re just describing the IMF’s model and pretending China is doing it. When countries were unable to pay back the loans, China has refinanced or forgiven them.
Having good relations and a country that isn’t dependent on the west benefits China a lot more than slightly reduced costs to transport goods to a country, that every other country also reaps when a port or railroad is built.
Here’s me pretending, with data.
From trains and highways to power plants and ports, Chinese funding has helped to accelerate Africa’s economic growth and bridge infrastructural gaps.
However, although these loans have accelerated growth, they also present obstacles that may impede long-term development. These obstacles take the form of debt default.
The volume of borrowing from China has generated concerns over debt sustainability in some African countries.
- Angola … $64.8 billion
- South Africa … $21.3 billion
- Ethiopia … $20.4 billion
- Sudan … $18 billion
- Egypt … $15 billion
- Nigeria … $14.5 billion
- Zambia … $13.5 billion
- Democratic Republic of Congo … $13.1 billion
- Kenya … $12.7 billion
- Ghana … $9.8 billion Source
There’s also the downgrades and quality control issues you get with buying Chinese.
The quality can’t be that much worse than the plane that can’t fly in the rain and has a risk of decapitating pilots on ejection. It’s not as good at killing American soldiers as the Osprey, but it’s not exactly the epitome of quality.
In any case, Chinese manufacturing builds to specification. The reason they’re perceived as low quality is that you’re buying goods designed to be literally as cheap as possible, both in the development and manufacturing costs, and companies wouldn’t make a profit outsourcing if they spent the same amount manufacturing the product in China.
When your cheap electronic fails because a .5 cent capacitor explodes after a month, it’s not because the country with the biggest manufacturing sector didn’t have access to 5 cent capacitors or the country with the most engineers didn’t have the engineering man-hours available to design it correctly.
There are much larger, systemic issues with Chinese manufacturing that goes beyond just building to specification. Systemic corruption is the number one killer of their high end manufacturing market. The easiest example I can give you is steel. High quality steel is hard to order from China, steel you do order will be improperly marked as hogh quality but in actuality will be lower. This is a foreign and domestic issue, and is the reason why thr Chinese rail lines are constantly under construction.
The Osprey is a dangerous aircraft and everyone knows it, while Chinese aircraft are dangerous while pretending to be safe.
The Canadian public isint ready to swallow it yet but that’s where it’s going to end up at. China and Iran have been preparing for this scenario for the last 20+ years.
They have all the kit and more needed, and in the right quantity too. In time. People still don’t really belive Trump would push the button. The closer he gets the more open to this reality people will become.
I’m sure they weren’t planning on getting into a war againt USA either.
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Yeah, those are definitely safe from tampering.
The purpose of buying jets from someone other than America is to reduce America’s influence over Canada, why would China sabotage that?
Edit: Why is this controversial? Do you think America tampers with the weapons we send to Taiwan?
The US can remotely disable an F-35… China, I’d expect can do the same for a J-35.
I don’t think the above poster doubts their ability, only that they might be less incentivized to do so compared to, say a country that has repeatedly voiced their wish to annex Canada.
Nobody expects China to remotely disable J-35’s on a whim… But they might do it as they prepare to invade Taiwan.
Is Canada planning to go to war with China if they annex Taiwan?
There was the “kill switch” rumour recently that trump (any president) can remotely disable any/all f35s they wanted to
It’s probably not true, but the truth is just as disasterous for foreign buyers.
A shutdown of parts out of US does essentially the same and is much easier to do on a whim and withhold the solution in negotiations.
People weren’t just buying US because “we’re the best” it’s because we could be relied on for support, because no one fucksnwith the US military industrial complex
trump is tho, and that’s a hell of a lot more dangerous for a politician than pissing off day traders
They require maintenance in the US. How well would that work if the US was invading us?
…
Yes, that is the point I am making, and the argument your government is making for canceling the contract.
If trump were to cut off logistical support for that or any other whim, they would have to be mothballed.
The SAAB would be much better as they allow local parts manufacture and local maintenance.
They don’t give any access to the stealth tech either, as far as I understand
I doubt that’s true, no one would place orders for a stealth fighter without the stealth technology.
No you get stealth, but you don’t get to know ‘how stelt’
Something we can train on and maintain within our borders please.
He’s keeping up decorum but yeah these jets are done. You can’t buy military equipment from an enemy and the jets would have to be serviced in the USA over their lifetime.
It always seemed strange that Canada would agree (how much arm twisting?) to buy a plane that won’t work well in our Arctic. We are committed to buying 16 jets but it would probably be better to buy the rest elsewhere or put our money into homegrown solutions. Maybe drones or other machines.
Excuse me sir, may I interest you in Gripen? Cold weather tested, fascist free, and oh so stylish. Book your test flight today!
Maybe we should be looking at what we need for city close quarters defenses and guerilla fighting.
If they do plan on invading, it will probably involve them coming from the North as well, and not just the South-- especially if they were to occupy Greenland first.
Messing with the military industrial complex is not the smartest move for Trump. All that will do is turn the military against him.
maybe don’t rely on fighter jets than can possibly be disabled remotely by someone talking about invading you
Lockheed Martin — ”We specialize in destroying the lives of brown people, come fly with us”
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