Canada’s purchase of 88
Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 fighter jets
will cost far more than projected, and the country faces a potential shortage of qualified pilots to fly them, a government audit has found.
The overall cost estimate of the order has jumped to $27.7 billion, almost 50 per cent more than originally anticipated, Canadian
Auditor General
Karen Hogan said in a report. There will be at least $5.5 billion in additional costs for infrastructure upgrades and advanced weapons, she said.
Construction of new facilities for the jets and their crew is more than three years behind schedule, Hogan found, and may not be ready until 2031. With the first F-35s scheduled to arrive in Canada in 2028, interim hosting solutions will add costs.
The audit comes as Mark Carney’s government
examines the fighter-jet deal
. Carney ordered a
review of the contract
in March — one of his first moves as prime minister — after United States President Donald Trump put tariffs on Canadian goods and made a series of menacing comments about
turning the country into the 51st state
.
Carney has pledged that Canada will direct more of its
military spending toward domestic production
or to other allies. “We should no longer send three-quarters of our defence capital spending to America,” he said. But he hasn’t said he would cancel or reduce the F-35 contract, either. Canada is also trying to join Europe’s rearmament program, which suggests
Saab AB’s Gripen aircraft
may also be added to Canada’s air force.
Canada is buying the F-35s as a member of the Joint Strike Fighter program, a group of countries that also includes the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway.
Canada’s military estimated in 2022 that the F-35 order would cost $19 billion, but Hogan said that was based on information from a few years earlier. The Joint Strike Fighter program had since produced new estimates “which were showing that costs of the aircraft had already increased substantially,” she said.
The cost increase was primarily caused by rising inflation, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, and heightened demand for munitions, the audit found.
Hogan’s report says the Department of National Defence believes the planned training program won’t produce enough pilots by 2032-33 for full operational capability. “National Defence should take immediate action to complete all plans and schedules for the project to bring the CF-35A aircraft into service and implement them in a timely manner.”
Bloomberg.com
Lockheed jet deal to cost Canada more than $27 billion, auditor says
2025-06-10 14:26:03
