Summary
Canada is reconsidering its F-35 fighter jet purchase amid rising tensions with the Trump administration.
Defence Minister Bill Blair stated Canada is exploring alternatives to the $19-billion contract for 88 jets, suggesting Canada might accept the first 16 already paid for while sourcing remaining aircraft from European suppliers like Saab.
This follows Trump’s tariff threats and comments about “annexing Canada by economic force.”
The Swedish-built Saab Gripen, which finished second in the competition, offers assembly in Canada, thus avoiding dependence on U.S.-based maintenance.
I read that it’s trivially easy for the US to remotely disable those planes. Seems like a security concern to use them.
They can’t shut them off. They can do something like MS is doing with EOLing Windows 10 tho. No more security updates, which in this case means they’d over time become more vulnerable to adversary ECM jamming.
They could cut off a country from getting parts needed to keep the planes flying which is actually more significant. It wouldn’t be easy, but a country could replace the computer systems in a jet. A military has it’s own technicians maintain their equipment and they would understand which signals are needed from the cockpit to make the plane work.
The Lockheed Martin could shut down the planes thing is FUD and isn’t convincing anyone in the know. The potential for cutting a country off from resupply is real, and the US has done that to Ukraine, a country in the middle of a war.
My understanding is that that plane needs to “call home” daily or it won’t work.
I couldn’t find the article, but found a more recent one that basically agrees with you, except on the whole replacement of the computer systems. That plane took so long to complete and had so many problems, im betting it’s easier to design a new plane rather than reverse engineer this one but that’s neither here nor there.
I think the largest issue is the over-dependence on the US military across the board which as you mentioned, we see playing out in the Ukraine already.
Do you think the EU has what it takes to rebuild fast enough to stand up for themselves alone?
I hope so. I’m not informed enough to know.
That alone should be reason enough to not buy it. I bet it’s not even trivial to verify if that’s the case which gives even more reason to not go ahead with the purchase.
Yeah you read a lot of things. Doesn’t mean they’re true.
Correct. I did follow up today and read some more sources and it sounds like it’s not quite as simple a story, but the dependence on the US military seems to be a significant issue. I found a better article with a more nuanced take here if you’re interested in that sort of thing: https://theaviationist.com/2025/03/10/f-35-kill-switch-myth/