Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked for a review of Canada’s plan to purchase a fleet of F-35 fighter jets.
The deal with Lockheed Martin and the U.S. government is for 88 planes at a cost of about US$85 million each.
A spokesperson for Defence Minister Bill Blair said Carney has asked Blair to look into whether the F-35 contract is the best investment for Canada, or if there are better options.
“We need to do our homework given the changing environment, and make sure that the contract in its current form is in the best interests of Canadians and the Canadian Armed Forces,” Blair’s press secretary Laurent de Casanove said.
Yes he does, but strangely enough he’s followed through with a lot more of it in his 2.0 incarnation.
As I said previously I’m not even sure we could have any delivered before the conflict began. But that shouldn’t negate us at least trying.
Yes, billions of dollars.
Would you also recommend that Ukraine stop spending money it doesn’t have to fight Russia? I sure hope not.
Already answered more than once.
Agreed. That is what we will end up in. I’m wondering why you wouldn’t want more fighting power tho?
Jets are notoriously bad for guerilla warfare. They require long straight runways that are incredibly hard to hide or move, they require serious maintenance that is hard to do in the field (if you can even land them “in the field”), they require massive amounts of training to be used effectively. There’s a reason Ukraine takes out more jets at bases than in the air - it’s just easier.
Any successful military action by Canada against the United States isn’t going to be conventional. Piles of drones (and other equipment) would give far more bang for the buck.
This is a complicated matter.
I would recommend Ukraine stop indebting itself to the Western MIC by spending money it doesn’t have fighting to the last Ukrainian, and refocus the war effort on a protracted people’s war against the invasion. That means not kidnapping unwilling people off the street to die in the front lines, instead refocusing the war efforts on longer term guerilla tactics and entrenchment in the territory they do control. This does mean losing territory in areas where the people are more sympathetic to invading Russian forces, which might be the case in Crimea and the Donbass region. Guerillas can’t fight without support from the masses.
Fight like the Vietminh. Fight like Hamas. That is how you repel a stronger occupying military force.
If we apply this to Canada, the question becomes: are there regions of Canada that might be more sympathetic to the US than to their own Canadian government? I don’t think so, since unlike the situation with Ukraine the only lingual minority is French speaking and they might dislike the US even more than the rest of Canada! So, the situation is different.
I don’t think it’s the most prudent use of military funds. The jets will be destroyed in weeks or less.
Guerillas can fight for years and decades, and that’s what they should be prepared for instead of wasting money on military boondoggles. They should be entrenching themselves with bunkers, tunnels, and be prepared for a long defense. This is why they need to invest in their people - Canadians will embrace guerrilla resistance if they know that Canadian independence is in their material interests.
Jets are just a waste.