Former high-ranking officers of the Canadian Armed Forces are mounting a defence of the planned acquisition of 88 American F-35 fighter jets, hoping to put an end to the ongoing courtship between the Canadian government and the Swedish firm Saab.
According to information obtained by Radio-Canada, a dozen former high-ranking officers of the Royal Canadian Air Force sent a letter to the federal government to reiterate the benefits of acquiring a full fleet of F-35s to meet Canada’s military needs.
The signatories are hoping to prevent the Canadian government from reducing its F-35 order and replacing that capability with Gripen-E fighter jets made by Saab, a Swedish industrial giant that promises to create thousands of jobs in Canada.
The letter, which has not yet been made public, was sent Monday to key government decision-makers involved in the fighter jet file, including the office of Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Carney ordered a review of the purchase of F-35s manufactured by the American firm Lockheed Martin in March, in response to expansionist threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Canada is currently acquiring at least 16 F-35 aircraft, but has not committed to acquiring the full fleet of 88 aircraft that were ordered in 2023.
According to sources, the signatories of the letter include Tom Lawson, who was chief of the defence staff of the Canadian Armed Forces from 2012 to 2015.
In an interview with CBC News, he refused to comment on the letter, but raised questions about plans to purchase Gripen fighter jets.
“Unfortunately, regarding the F-35, there just is nothing available in the free world that comes close to the quality of the F-35,” he said.
“The F-35 is so far beyond anything that the Gripen can provide that anything you’d be saving in terms of money by going to a second fleet would be lost, because that fleet would be close to useless in a wartime situation.”
Lawson said he understands the Canadian government’s desire to diversify its sources of military equipment outside the United States, but also said reducing the F-35 purchase isn’t the right way to send a message to the Americans.
Lawson previously worked as a part-time consultant for Lockheed Martin but is no longer affiliated with the company. He says his views on the matter are the same as when he led the Canadian Armed Forces, or was deputy commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).
Canada’s role in building American F-35 fighter jets
He said F-35s have better capabilities in terms of stealth and evading enemy radar, as well as an ability for combining data from various sources to gain a better overview of the airspace around them.
“If we need more fighter capability, buy more F-35s,” Lawson said.
He added that given ongoing shortages of pilots and technicians, buying a secondary fleet of Gripen fighter jets would only worsen resources problems inside the CAF.
“It really does make us nervous as we watch our elected officials romance the Swedes in this case,” said Lawson.
The Carney government has not yet committed to purchasing a second fleet of Gripen-E fighters, but it has held discussions in recent months with Saab, which is promising new facilities to produce aircraft in Canada.
The Swedish king’s state visit to Ottawa and Montreal this week has fueled speculation surrounding the Canadian Armed Forces’ possible purchase of Swedish fighter jets and electronic surveillance aircraft.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has made it clear that she would like more economic benefits from Lockheed Martin in return for the $27 billion F-35 fighter jet contract.
“My goal in this review of the F-35 contract, or for fighter jets in general, is to understand what the industrial benefits will be,” she told Radio-Canada last week. “I told Lockheed Martin that I think they can do better, that they can do more, that they must do more.”
According to Canadian officials at aerospace company L3Harris MAS, thousands of jobs could be lost if Canada does not proceed with the planned acquisition of 88 F-35s.
The firm is currently handling the maintenance of CF-18 fighter jets in Mirabel, Que., and it’s in discussions with Lockheed Martin to establish a maintenance center for all Canadian F-35s and a part of the American fleet in Mirabel. The facility in Mirabel would offer an “overflow” capacity to the two main maintenance depots in North Carolina and Utah.
Officials from Lockheed Martin plan to visit the Mirabel facilities next month, and there are promising signs of a partnership for the maintenance of F-35 aircraft.
Without a full fleet of Canadian F-35s and a partnership with the U.S. armed forces, however, the Mirabel site would not be economically viable, says L3Harris MAS.
“If Canada were to decide to do a mixed fleet that was less than 88 F-35s, it is likely that we would have a job layoff of around 500 personnel and that would result in probably 1,600 jobs lost to Canada, both direct and indirect,” said Richard Foster, vice-president of the company and former senior officer in the CAF.
He added that Canada should take its time before launching the process of acquiring six to eight new electronic surveillance aircraft.
Saab and Bombardier are working together on an aircraft named the GlobalEye, while L3Harris is also using Bombardier to produce/design? an aircraft with radar systems.
The third major competitor for this contract is the E7 Wedgetail manufactured by Boeing.
Several sources are touting the benefits of the GlobalEye purchase for Canada, particularly in terms of economic spin-offs, but others believe it is still necessary to ensure that the new aircraft can be refueled in flight and have state-of-the-art radars.
The Royal Canadian Air Force held meetings with various potential suppliers in September, and L3Harris is still fine-tuning the aircraft it plans to offer to the government, said Foster.
