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Carney orders review of F-35 fighter jet purchase from U.S.’s Lockheed Martin (www.ctvnews.ca)

submitted 23 hours ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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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.

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[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

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.

[-] AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 40 points 20 hours ago

Can I interest you in a Eurofighter Typhoon?

[-] Frostbeard@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

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 planejme the F35 tho'

[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

Only if the F-35 is fully operational. $2 trillion later and the damn thing is still a maintenance pig.

[-] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 12 points 11 hours ago

Me personally? I'd love to say yes, but I'm a bit skint atm.....could I get it on IOU?

[-] AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 5 points 11 hours ago

Okay, make some space in the drive and I'll bring it over later.

[-] Punchshark@lemmy.ca 84 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Fuck yeah! Canada will vote with its dollar!

[-] hikuro93@lemmy.ca 64 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Heck yeah. Go Carney.

With love from Portugal. 🇵🇹🤝🇨🇦

[-] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 18 points 22 hours ago

Welcome to the carnival!

CARNAGE!

[-] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 28 points 20 hours ago

Canada could do the funniest thing rn by buying J-35s at half the price.

[-] BetaBlake@lemmy.world 28 points 18 hours ago

It would be funny, but damn I would not want to buy military equipment from china

[-] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 12 points 11 hours ago

USA: We want to annex Canada. We are not joking

Canadians: Ooh China is very scary.

[-] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 14 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

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.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 hours ago

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.

[-] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago

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?

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

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.

[-] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 minutes ago

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.

[-] AnarchoDakosaurus@toast.ooo 8 points 15 hours ago

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.

[-] brax@sh.itjust.works 46 points 22 hours ago

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.

[-] CircaV@lemmy.ca 38 points 21 hours ago

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.

[-] fourish@lemmy.world 21 points 20 hours ago

I would be thrilled if all American social media was blocked 100%. Sweep the trolls back into their caves.

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[-] AlolanVulpix@lemmy.ca 15 points 21 hours ago

List of Canadian Alternatives to American owned media pretending to be Canadian

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[-] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 23 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

The Swedish Saab Gripen would be a good choice. It would include assembly and maintenance in Canada.

https://armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/2025/focus-what-could-be-the-option-for-canada-to-replace-f-35-fighter-jet-acquisition-after-political-tensions-with-us

[-] slingstone@lemmy.world 8 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

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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[-] Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 16 points 20 hours ago

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.

[-] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 24 points 19 hours ago

Excuse me sir, may I interest you in Gripen? Cold weather tested, fascist free, and oh so stylish. Book your test flight today!

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 9 points 19 hours ago

Maybe we should be looking at what we need for city close quarters defenses and guerilla fighting.

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[-] Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works 24 points 22 hours ago

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.

[-] Tm12@lemmy.ca 29 points 23 hours ago

Something we can train on and maintain within our borders please.

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 16 points 21 hours ago

Messing with the military industrial complex is not the smartest move for Trump. All that will do is turn the military against him.

[-] nao@sh.itjust.works 19 points 22 hours ago

maybe don't rely on fighter jets than can possibly be disabled remotely by someone talking about invading you

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 5 points 18 hours ago

Canada. Doesn't. Need. Fighter. Jets.

[-] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 13 points 18 hours ago

Maybe you should pay better attention to what is going on in the world right now.

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[-] kbal@fedia.io 10 points 21 hours ago

For the $70 billion it would apparently cost in total to have these super fancy fighter jets, they could instead build a million new low-cost housing units and still have some money left over to work on inventing innovative air defence systems that aren't so expensive..

[-] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 hours ago

They could also build a high speed rail from Toronto to Quebec, something the people could actually use.

[-] kbal@fedia.io 5 points 4 hours ago

You're underestimating the size of $70 billion. It's more like high-speed rail to every major city in the country.

[-] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Nah, $70 billion is about right, and that's a conservative estimate. If it turns out anything like california high speed rail then it could definitely go into $100 billion territory.

Common law countries like the u.s., Canada and u.k. are really inefficient at building hsr due to property rights issues. California is still struggling to build its hsr even though it's scope has been reduced, its budget keeps ballooning. Similarly, the hs2 project in England to connect London to Manchester has also been cut back to just Birmingham, and it's also over budget ringing in £ 50 billion for just that section.

If this were china then yeah you could probably get a Vancouver to Quebec line for $70 billion, but the Canadian central government isnt that strong and would have to deal with a lot more regulations.

[-] kbal@fedia.io 1 points 2 hours ago

California is the textbook case of paying way to much for that sort of thing, isn't it? It's always the one they go to when they want to make a crazy inflated budget look reasonable by comparison. But yeah, I was seriously underestimating the cost anyway. Maybe we should just go with medium-speed rail.