The NDP says it wants Prime Minister Mark Carney to cancel contracts for U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets — including the 16 Canada has already committed to buying.
  • tleb@lemmy.caEnglish
    4·
    51 minutes ago

    I assume he’s not committing to it either way until CUSMA is renegotiated. It’s probably a bargaining chip. On principal I do agree that we should scrap the entire F-35 contract in favour of Gripens though.

  • MCGiorgi@piefed.caEnglish
    13·
    2 hours ago

    The US is no longer a reliable partner. With everything they’ve done over the last year why should we trust them with this deal? That they won’t change it or put restrictions, or exit tariffs on any of this? How do we know there won’t be spyware in the jets operating system, or a kill switch, or an override routine?

    Choose the vendor who is willing to work with us. Saab is willing to give us the source code for the jets operating system. They’re willing to manufacture the jets in Canada.

    The US will keep their operating system and be able to modify it with impunity. ‘Did your plane fall out of the sky? Our bad. Our latest patch had a bug and we didn’t find it until it was too late.’

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      16 minutes ago

      They were never a reliable partner.

      NAFTA being a trade agreement that they can tariff but we can’t should have been the end of it.

    • Typhoon@lemmy.caEnglish
      10·
      2 hours ago

      They already have terrible reliability and need a constant stream of parts to keep them in the sky. The US doesn’t even need a kill switch. They could just stop supplying parts.

  • saltesc@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    18 minutes ago

    “This is not just a fictional fear. Donald Trump did this to Ukraine. He threatened to withhold, and did withhold, parts to the F-16 fighter jet radar and left the Ukrainian Air Force in a lurch,” he said.

    Yup.

    Trump is loosely adopting the subscription model. Agree to the new TOS or have services withheld. On top of F-35s being far too costly than the USAF had ever wanted, as a JSF it’s a confusing jack-of-all trades; master of none, and so there’s obviously much more sensible options elsewhere.

    When the end goal here is national defence, one needs to consider how it will be ultimately impacted by entering into a “deal” with the current USA. It’s entirely expected nations will browse on by and shop elsewhere

  • Kowowow@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    54 minutes ago

    If john deere can brick tractors that Russians stole I bet these jets could be grounded without a boubt