Canada spends $71 million on F-35 jets

Ottawa will remain a partner in developing fighter despite uncertainty over whether it will purchase them

OTTAWA — Canada has quietly made another multimilliondollar payment toward development of the F-35 stealth fighter despite uncertainty over whether it will buy the aircraft and calls from some prominent Canadians not to purchase any new fighter jets.

Canada made the annual payment to the U.S. military in the spring, spending $71.7 (U.S.) million to remain a partner country in the F-35 project. Each partner is required to cover a portion of the plane’s multibillion-dollar development costs to stay at the table.

Staying in the program has advantages, as partner countries get a discount when purchasing the jets and compete for billions of dollars in contracts associated with building and maintaining them.

The F-35 is being built by U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin.

While the new payment brings Canada’s total investment in the F-35 to $613 (U.S.) million since 1997, the government says Canadian companies have also secured more than $2 billion in production and maintenance contracts related to the stealth fighter.

“Canada’s participation in the (F-35) program allows companies in Canada to benefit from contracts,” Department of National Defence spokesperson Daniel Le Bouthillier said in an email.

“Our latest payment … will continue to provide Canada with the option to buy the aircraft at a lower cost, and with priority access to the production line, should the F-35 be successful in the competitive process for the future fighter fleet.”

There have been concerns in the U.S. after Congressional auditors found the F-35 could be too expensive for the American military to operate due to higher-than-anticipated operating and maintenance costs.

Ottawa is poised to announce later this year which fighter jet will replace Canada’s aging CF-18 fleet. The government is planning to buy 88 new planes at an estimated cost of up to $19 billion.

The F-35 is competing against American rival Boeing’s Super Hornet and the Swedish-made Saab Gripen.

The pending decision has galvanized dozens of Canadian singers, authors, politicians and activists, including Neil Young, David Suzuki and Michael Ondaatje, to sign a statement calling on the government to cancel its plans to buy new fighter jets.

“The expensive weapons are largely useless in responding to natural disasters, providing international humanitarian relief or in peacekeeping operations,” the statement reads. “Nor can they protect us from a pandemic or the climate and other ecological crises.”