EDITORIAL: Hitting the kill switch on fighter jet deal

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CORRECTION: A previous version of this editorial incorrectly stated Ukraine has F-35 fighter jets.

White House actions recently caused Portugal to choose not to purchase Lockheed-Martin F-35 jets, despite recommendations from its air force that it do so.

That action came about after the U.S. paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine recently, seeking to put pressure on that country to engage in peace talks. That hobbled Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian incursions and raised concerns about military procurement among U.S. allies. Portugal’s defence minister cited the unreliability of the U.S. as an ally for not going ahead with the deal.

This country has committed to spending $19 billion on 88 F-35 jets. At the time the contract was signed, the possibility of America being an aggressor against Canada did not arise. Now it’s top of mind. Are we purchasing jets that can be disabled by a belligerent White House?

Defence Minister Bill Blair says the government is reconsidering the deal.

“It was the fighter jet identified by our air force as the platform that they required, but we are also examining other alternatives — whether we need all of those fighter jets to be F-35s,” Blair told the CBC’s Power and Politics program after he was sworn in again to the defence portfolio in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet.

Right now, the biggest threat to our sovereignty is our erstwhile friend and long-time ally. A recent Ottawa Citizen story pointed out that, while the Department of National Defence has dismissed claims the U.S. has a “kill switch” that can hobble the aircraft, Americans control the software and hardware upgrades needed for continued plane operations. That’s concerning with a president threatening to erase the U.S.-Canada border. Would it have been wiser to acquire drones, since the war in Ukraine has demonstrated their effectiveness in modern warfare?

The Citizen quotes Bill Sweetman, a former defence executive and author of the book Trillion Dollar Trainwreck: How The F-35 Hollowed Out the U.S. Air Force: “This is a very serious issue. Certainly, the situation makes it difficult to sustain operations without continued support.”

Whatever deal we make, we should demand control of software and hardware updates and ensure in future, we are masters of our destiny.