The liberals won the elections in Canada and are preparing to say goodbye to the F-35, a fighter chosen by the previous government to replace the F-18. The neo-premier and leader of the Liberal Party, Justin Trudeau (in the photo), during his last public appearances was clear: "if we win the election, we will give up the F-35 and opt for a less expensive platform. The funds saved will be redirected to shipbuilding ”. And as the F-35 is a delicate subject for liberals, the 88 electoral program pages that at JSF dedicates a few pages demonstrates this: "We need a fighter that can defend North America, not a low observability platform "With the money saved, we will strengthen the Royal Canadian Navy which is in dire need of new boats."
A number of countries are involved in the F-35 program, but Canada (for example), partner of the JSF program, has not yet indicated how to acquire them. For years, the Canadian government has been looking for a platform that can replace CF-18 fighters. The only certain data is that, now, Canadians will start searching for one or more different platforms. To ensure a safe and effective transition to the new weapon system, Canada has extended the operational life of the entire CF-18 fleet to the 2025.
Canada was interested in version A of the F-35 which currently costs 108 million dollars. The F-35 was one of the greatest political concerns for the conservative government. The Liberal government originally signed up for the JSF research and development program, but the conservatives have significantly expanded Canada's role and preliminarily engaged the government to buy the aircraft. But to deal with disputes over the real cost of the F-35, the government has tried to hide the true end price of the aircraft.
The Canadian National Defense Department originally claimed that the JSF program would have cost 14,7 billion dollars altogether. Digit then denied. The estimate for the adoption of the F-35 platform (for 65 fighter), was 29 billion dollars.
In addition to the aerial platform, the Royal Canadian Navy has an extreme need for new ships. In the last year, the Royal Canadian Navy withdrew from service two supply and supply ships, and two destroyers.
(photo: Liberal Party of Canada archive)
