Canada and the F-35: What's at stake?

Abstract

In 2001, the United States government selected Lockheed Martin (over Boeing) to lead the development of a fifth generation fighter aircraft for the use by the United States’ Air Force, Navy, and Marines. Although assorted Congressional committees and Pentagon officials have continued to express no shortage of concerns over the project's overruns, delays and performance shortfalls of the F-35, the so-called “arms deal of the century” remains on track. Along with several other United States’ allies, Canada expressed interest early on by contributing funds toward the development of the F-35, and many Canadian companies have already been involved in the project. In 2010, the Harper government vowed to buy 65 F-35s. This special issue takes a second look at this proposed military procurement, and examines the main issues of concern for Canada.

Keywords:

• F-35
• Canadian defence policy
• Joint Strike Fighter

Acknowledgements

Thank you to David Carment and Kevin Arthur, respectively the editor and the managing editor of CFPJ. From the beginning they saw value in this endeavor and smoothed the path to publication with skill and persistence. Thanks to the anonymous reviewers: I believe all contributors would agree that the pages that follow are better for your advice. Thank you to Marianne Corriveau and Viva Dadwal for research assistance. The publication was financially supported by the Centre for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa and the Centre for Security and Defence Studies at Carleton University.

Notes

The phrase has emerged in a variety of contexts. See, for example, DND (2011) and von Rosenbach (2010).

Or LM's own Sentinel, for that matter. In addition to the bread-and-butter long-range surveillance, all drones can be, and have been, used ground bombing. The current version of the Reaper is also designed for air-to-air combat, as is the Taranis, which is being developed by the BAE Systems. CF have successfully operated UAVs since 2003.

The debate was recorded and aired on C-SPAN. As of 16 August 2011, the video was retrievable from http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsp=template&act=view3&pagetype=vod&hl=e&clipID=4688.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Srdjan Vucetic

Srdjan Vucetic is Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa, 55 Laurier Avenue E, Ottawa, Email: [email protected]