“This announcement marks another important milestone in Canada’s competitive process for the purchase of state-of-the-art fighter jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force,” Tassi said. Canada has been trying unsuccessfully for more than a decade to replace obsolete F-18 fighters. The former Conservative government said in 2010 it would buy 65 F-35s, but later overturned the decision, causing years of delays and revisions. “The F-35 is in operational use by NORAD and NATO partners on missions around the world. It has proven to be a mature, capable and interoperable aircraft and that is why we are in the process of completing this supply,” said the Minister of Defense. . Anita Anand, speaking on the side of Tassi, told reporters. The federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trindade will now have only detailed talks with Lockheed Martin. Ottawa says it hopes to award the contract this year and receive the first deliveries in 2025. Defense sources have long been betting on the American company, given that Canada belongs to the consortium that developed the F-35 aircraft and the fact that the plane is the first choice of the army. Ottawa says the deal could be worth up to C $ 19 billion (about $ 15 billion). “We look forward to continuing to work with Canadian industry to deliver and maintain the F-35 for the Royal Canadian Air Force,” Lorraine Ben Canada CEO Lorraine Ben said in a statement. If for some reason the negotiations fail, the government will turn to the Swedish Saab, the other candidate. “While we maintain our position that Saab has presented the best bid for the Future Fighter Capability Project, we respect the decision of the Government of Canada,” the Swedish company said in a statement, adding that it would continue to work with Canada on current and future projects. . However, Canada has a long history of using US military equipment and, unlike Sweden, belongs to both NATO and NORAD, the North American defense agency. Trinto came to power in 2015 promising not to buy the F-35 as too expensive, but changed his position. The obvious alternative would be Boeing, but it fell out of favor after the commercial action against the Canadian competitor Bombardier and was excluded from the competition last December.
