By Canadian Press

Assessing the costs and benefits of Canada’s 12-year F-35 odyssey

Mar 29, 2022 | 3:17 PM

OTTAWA — Defence experts say there have been both costs and benefits to Canada’s long journey in choosing a new fighter jet, which resulted this week in the launch of negotiations for the purchase of F-35s.

David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute says the clearest benefit is that the F-35 is now flying actual missions for the U.S. and other allies, which wasn’t the case when Stephen Harper’s Conservative government selected it for a sole-source contract in 2010.

Queen’s University procurement expert Kim Nossal agrees, saying Canada managed to skate around many of the development issues that are still being ironed out on the F-35s, which only became fully operational for the U.S. in 2016.

Nossal is also hopeful that the past 12 years have had another benefit: reducing the level of political interference in military procurement, which he blames for the fact Canada will still be flying its aging CF-18s through 2032.

Still, even if that is true, experts say there is no denying the costs that have been incurred, including the investment of billions of dollars to keep the CF-18s in the air and damage to public and political faith in the military procurement system.

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Perry also notes many questions remain as the government enters negotiations with Lockheed Martin, including how much the 88 new planes will actually cost.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2022.

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press