Election! Is the F-35 finished?

Special pre-election issue of PeaceQuest

Good morning – Here is your Saturday newsletter, the day before an election call that could prove to be the most important in a generation.

In peace,

Steve

F-35 Lightning II fighters from the USAF, US Navy and Republic of Korea. Source:https://x.com/usairforce

Just when you thought the F-35 was a done deal – it suddenly isn’t.

The $19 billion order for 88 U.S.-built fighter jets for the Canadian Air Force is in the sights of every political party on the eve of an election campaign.

Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney has ordered a review of the contract the Trudeau government signed in 2023. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters he’d review the F-35 contract, too, the same jet his party chose back in 2010 when the Harper Conservatives were in power. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh vowed to cancel the contract.

The reason the F-35 is in hot water can be summed up in two words: Donald Trump.

As PeaceQuest readers will know, many now suspect that the incredibly complicated aircraft which is dependent upon regular software upgrades from the Americans gives the U.S. President what is effectively a “kill switch” on Canadian planes.

Trump's war: time to shoot down the F-35?

Air Force colonel (ret.) says F-35s “wholly dependent” on U.S. military

A retired Canadian Air Force Colonel formerly responsible for the operation of Canada’s current fleet of jets says the F-35s are virtually useless without these critical updates.

“[An F-35] can only be fully effective as part of a U.S. military operational or war effort…It is wholly dependent on the U.S. military structure for operational effectiveness and requires endless and expensive U.S parts, upgrades, software and weapons systems. A Canadian F-35 fleet, on its own, would be unusable in weeks or less, without U.S. maintenance or operational support,” wrote Col. Paul Maillet (ret.) in an open letter to Prime Minister Carney urging him to cancel the deal, shared with PeaceQuest (I joined Col. Maillet (ret.) at an Ottawa press conference in 2012).

The real purpose of Carney’s trip to Europe this week

Mark Carney’s European trip this week was billed as a friendship tour in the face of increasing attacks from President Trump, but there was a lot more happening behind the scenes.