At this point, the only commitment is to buy 16 F-35s. Mark Carney will be making the final decision on whether to proceed with purchases of another 72 of the stealth fighters.

The F-35 is a poison pill for Canadian defence sovereignty against a hostile America. We cannot win against an invasion, but with the Gripen we can make it a phyrric victory for them.

  • LeFantome@programming.dev
    1·
    1 day ago

    I wish I saw your comment earlier. I agree.

    Let’s be honest, the US would beat us on both quantity and tech.

    However, spending less per unit would go a long way to closing the gap. And the operating costs are even more dramatic. Canada could have pilots training around the clock flying Gripens for the cost of occasionally relocating the F-35. The cost difference is nuts.

    And I really do not think the Gripen is that far behind the F-35 in the real world.

    But the US military budget is just stupid. They could have an F-35 fly around the world for a month being constantly refueled in flight and it might not get its own line item in the expense report.