The Canadian Defence Ministry has initiated funds for long-lead objects related to the procurement of 14 further F-35A fifth technology fighter plane, increasing the nation’s fleet past the primary 16 fighters which have already been paid for and accepted for supply. The parts paid for embody structural assemblies and avionics methods, which should be ordered years upfront to retain Canada’s place within the manufacturing sequence. Whereas delaying funds would have positioned the Royal Canadian Air Drive vulnerable to receiving the plane significantly later, the choice to make the fee might sign Ottawa’s restricted willingness to contemplate severe reductions to F-35 procurements, thus limiting its leverage in its ongoing commerce dispute with america. A federal evaluation of future fighter acquisitions at the moment stays underway, with the Swedish Gripen E/F light-weight fourth technology fighter thought of the main different.
The present evaluation of Canada’s full F-35A order, which was beforehand deliberate at 88 fighters, was initiated in 2025 beneath Prime Minister Mark Carney following commerce and safety tensions with america. Carney in January pressured that forceful U.S. threats to annex Greenland and Canada itself signalled finish of the rules-based worldwide order, indicting a willingness to guard Greenland in opposition to a attainable U.S. invasion. Tensions have been additionally fuelled by the imposition of tariffs on Canadian metal, aluminium, and automotive exports to america. Home polling commissioned by Ekos Politics has indicated that 72 p.c of Canadians supported incorporating the Gripen into the Royal Canadian Air Drive, with provides to domestically co-produce the much less standard fighter anticipated to create 1000’s of home jobs and strengthen the nationwide aerospace industrial base.
Regardless of the political and financial benefits of the Gripen, inside Canadian Defence Ministry studies obtained by Radio Canada in December 2025 confirmed that the F-35 was assessed to be overwhelmingly superior to rival fighter varieties within the Future Fighter Functionality Venture tender. The plane scored 57.1 out of 60 factors, a 95 p.c rating, whereas the Gripen E/F achieved simply 19.8 factors, a 33 p.c rating, with their performances diverging significantly sharply as soon as rated operational standards have been utilized. Such outcomes have been removed from sudden, with the F-35 having been favoured by equally overwhelming margins in current tenders in Belgium, Finland and Switzerland, and having constantly received each tender by which it has accomplished in opposition to European plane. The F-35’s capabilities are thought of in a league of its personal within the Western world as the one fifth technology fighter kind in manufacturing, with even the previous F-22 fifth technology fighter being far behind by way of its network-centric capabilities, lively and passive sensors, digital warfare suite, and stealth capabilities.
A number one driver of issues concerning F-35 procurements has been the restricted autonomy which international operations retain, with the partial exceptions of Israel and the UK. The flexibility of the U.S. Armed Forces to remotely disable F-35s fielded by the plane’s international operators, seemingly utilizing the fighter’s extremely centralised ALIS and ODIN logistics methods, could also be of explicit concern in Canada attributable to U.S. rhetoric concerning a attainable try at annexation. This risk has been perceived as sufficiently severe that the Canadian Armed Forces in January 2026 modelled a hypothetical U.S. invasion throughout workouts, which is unprecedented for the reason that early twentieth century. However, senior officers such because the commander of 1 Canadian Air Division Main Normal Chris McKenna have indicated robust help for procuring the F-35, because of the perceived want to have the ability to counter Chinese language and Russian fifth technology fighters, with no different Western fighter kind offering a peer degree functionality.
