The news comes just one day after Portugal announced it was abandoning its plans to purchase the F-35.
“Canada is actively looking at potential alternatives to the U.S.-built F-35 stealth fighter and will hold conversations with rival aircraft makers” Defence Minister Bill Blair said on Mar. 14, 2024, just hours after being reappointed to the post as part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet, according to an article published late on Friday by CBC News.
The statement came just one day after news spread that Portugal was abandoning its plans to buy the F-35, as explained by Portuguese Defense Minister Nuno Melo in an interview with Público published on Mar. 13, 2025.
After years of debate and delays, Canada announced the finalisation of an agreement with the United States (US) government and Lockheed Martin with Pratt & Whitney for the acquisition of F-35 fighter jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force, on Jan. 9, 2023. Estimated at 19 billion CAD (13.2B USD) for 88 F-35A jets, it was largest investment in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 30 years.
However, as Canada Defense Minister Bill Blair told CBC’s “Power & Politics”, discussions are ongoing about what best serves the country’s defense needs.
“It was the fighter jet identified by our air force as the platform that they required, but we are also examining other alternatives—whether we need all of those fighter jets to be F-35,” Blair said.
Noteworthy, terminating the contract won’t be that easy: unlike Portugal, which had only expressed interest in the F-35 through statements of the Air Force Chief of Staff, Canada has already paid for the first 16 aircraft, expected to arrive early next year. If Canada backs out of the full contract, financial penalties would likely apply, though the exact costs remain unclear. Moreover, the country has been investing in the program for decades.
In fact, Canada is a partner in the Joint Strike Fighter program with approximately 500 million USD spent since 1997 to participate in the program that led Canadian companies to secure F-35-related contracts for over 1.8 billion USD. The government decided to buy 65 F-35s in 2010 without competition, however in 2015 the plan was scrapped in favor of an open competition. Together with this competition, it was also decided to acquire 18 Super Hornets as temporary solution until the arrival of the new fighter aircraft. Following the trade dispute between Boeing and Bombardier, which even led to a so-called “Boeing clause” on firms that launched trade disputes with Canada, the Super Hornet interim plan was cancelled.
The 18 interim jets, however, were still badly needed and, in the end, Canada decided to acquire 18 flyable Hornets from the Royal Australian Air Force, of which 12 single seater F/A-18A and 6 twin seater F/A-18B jets, and up to seven non flyable aircraft for use as spare parts and training aids. The fighters were being retired as the RAAF received its new F-35s and were delivered to the RCAF between 2019 and 2021.
Eventually, the selection of the F-35 5th generation aircraft as part of the Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP) Canada to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force’s fleet of legacy CF-188 Hornets (local designation of the F/A-18) was announced in March 2022.
Anyway, Blair hinted that the plan might change, with future purchases potentially involving European suppliers, such as Sweden’s Saab, whose Gripen was the runner-up in the fighter jet competition. His comments suggest that Ottawa might accept the first batch of F-35s while diversifying the rest of the fleet. However, while a mixed fleet of 16 F-35s—of which only a handful would likely be mission-capable at any given time, as expected with such a small fleet—and another aircraft type is possible, it would create a logistical and organizational nightmare, significantly increasing costs for infrastructure, training, and supply chain management.
“The prime minister has asked me to go and examine those things and have discussions with other sources, particularly where there may be opportunities to assemble those fighter jets in Canada,” he said according to CBC.
That reference aligns with Sweden’s offer to assemble Gripens in Canada and transfer intellectual property, something the F-35 program does not permit. In fact, international F-35 operators (but Israel) “are not allowed to conduct independent test operations outside of the Continental United States (CONUS) based on U.S. policy. United States Government (USG) security rules and National Defense Policy (NDP) require that U.S. citizens perform specific functions in order to protect critical U.S. technology,” the U.S. Air Force website says.
This policy, underscores the limitations on foreign operators’ ability to test or modify the aircraft independently, a tight grip on the F-35’s advanced systems that has recently fuelled the F-35 “kill switch” myth.
That being said, as expected, Trump’s rhetoric has shaken the confidence of partners, allies, and potential customers worldwide in the U.S. defense sector. As with Portugal, Canada’s next steps remain uncertain. However, the situation is entirely different, as Ottawa, for the reasons we’ve already explained, would face significant financial penalties if it attempted to exit the program.
