F-35 or Swedish Gripen? The US is pressuring Canada to choose its fighter jets

American warplanes would have to fly over Canadian airspace more often if it did not buy the F-35 planes, said American ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra. Canada has been conducting talks for some time regarding the acquisition of Swedish Gripen fighters.

“NORAD would be changed,” Hoekstra said in an interview published Monday by public broadcaster CBC, referring to the situation in which – in the American assessment – the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the American-Canadian organization that protects the airspace over North America, would find itself.

Hoekstra added that if Canada did not buy 88 F-35 planes as planned, the U.S. would have to buy more planes for its air force and fly them over Canadian airspace “more often” to respond to threats to the U.S.

There is a passage in the updated U.S. National Defense Strategy that says, in the context of alleged “narco-terrorism” threats, the U.S. intends to increase its presence in Canadian airspace: “We will act in good faith with our neighbors, from Canada to our partners in Central and South America, but we will make sure they respect that and do their part to defend our common interests. If they do not, we will be prepared to take targeted and decisive action that specifically advances U.S. interests.”

In the opinion of Vincent Rigby, former adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on security, quoted by CBC, Hoekstra's statement is “obviously a political pressure tactic”, “should not be ignored, but also should not be treated as truth revealed by the administration (Washington – PAP) or the Pentagon.”

F-35 aircraft were purchased by, among others, Denmark, and now, due to US President Donald Trump's desire to take over Denmark's Greenland, has doubts. CBC quoted the head of the Danish parliament's defense committee, Rasmus Jarlov, as advising Canada to “choose another plane.”

Canada planned to buy 88 F-35 aircraft, the confirmed order is 16 aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin. In March last year, when the US introduced tariffs on Canadian products, Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered a review of the F-35 purchase plan. The Ottawa Citizen wrote last year that analysts warned that American control over F-35 systems could pose a threat to Canada's rules for using the ordered fighters. Although the Ministry of Defense denied that the US could use a “switch” that would disable the Canadian F-35s, it admitted that any software or hardware changes would depend on the US.

At the end of February last year The National Post reported that Trump allegedly told Lockheed Martin that he wanted the jobs created in Canada related to the maintenance of the F-35 by Canadian companies to be transferred to the USA. In mid-January this year. the same daily reported that Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly intends to use the government's rapid increase in defense spending to achieve greater economic benefits.

Canada is conducting talks on the possibility of purchasing Swedish Gripen fighters, and the company producing them, Saab, promises that up to 10,000 jobs could be created in Canada in aircraft production and scientific research. Saab also announced that if Canada purchased additional GlobalEye surveillance aircraft, the number of jobs would increase to 12,600. In December last year, during the visit to Canada of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, the Prime Minister of Canada and the Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson announced the conclusion of a strategic partnership, one of the pillars of this partnership is defense.

A study by the EKOS center from December last year. noted that 72 percent Canadians support the purchase of Gripens. 43 percent believes that Canada should buy these planes in the future, 29 percent supports the Canadian army having both Gripens and F-35s.

From Toronto Anna Lach (PAP)

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