US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets stack up for refueling over Afghanistan in 2010. Canada is looking to the latest Super Hornet as a way to put off buying F-35s. (credit: US Air Force)
While campaigning for office, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that his government would never buy the controversial, increasingly expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for his country's air force. That declaration came despite the previous administration's commitment to purchase 65 of those planes from Lockheed Martin. Now, however, it appears Trudeau's government has found a way to fulfill his campaign promise and avoid any potential legal headaches that would result from Canada dropping its commitment with Lockheed. Trudeau's solution? Buy more fighters from Boeing now, delay an F-35 decision 'til later.
At last week's CANSEC defense trade show in Ottawa, Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said that the Canadian Air Force's aging CF-18 Hornet fighter fleet would present a "growing capability gap" over the next decade that would make it difficult for Canada to meet its commitment to NATO. "This I find unacceptable, and it's one thing that we plan to fix," Sajjan said.
And as Defense News reports, the fix Sajjan and the Trudeau government will implement was proposed by Boeing. Instead of waiting for the F-35 to become available, Canada would buy a new version of Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet—and thus push the need to make a decision on an F-35 purchase into the late 2020s. The "interim" acquisition plan was reportedly presented to the Canadian government by Boeing with a very warm reception.
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