This warning has been branded a heavy-handed ‘political pressure tactic’ by a Canadian national security official, who argued that the US was threatening the NORAD alliance simply to sell more planes.
This is because Canada is weighing up replacing the US-made Lockheed Martin F-35 with the similarly-priced Swedish Gripen fighter jets, after a number of allies have raised concerns about America’s control of replacement parts for their air force.
« If they decide, » Hoekstra said, « they’re going with an inferior product that is not as interchangeable, interoperable as what the F-35 is, that changes our defence capability. And as such, we have to figure out how we’re going to replace that. »
Defense officials have long argued that the F-35 is a superior fighter jet platform, due to the ability to change the plane’s equipment to allow it to be deployed across a variety of environments, whether that’s a vertical takeoff from an aircraft carrier or a long-ranged strike mission.
National Security adviser under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Vincent Rigby, said: « This is another off-the-cuff remark by the ambassador. it can’t be ignored but neither should it be taken as gospel truth from either the administration or the Pentagon. »
But in Europe, military experts are beginning to warn against using the American-made platform, with many on the continent now viewing the US as an unreliable partner.
Danish defense committee chief Rasmus Jarlov has warned allies to ‘choose another fighter jet,’ after Trump threatened to annex Greenland, territory that has belonged to the European country for centuries.
He warned that the F-35 program required a constant stream of US-made parts, giving America total control over whether other nation’s air forces even leave the tarmac.
Jarlov said: « They’re in for repairs about half the time or even more. So the Americans have all the power of actually destroying our air force just by shutting down [parts] supplies. »
The trade war between the US and Canada has no signs of slowing down as Trump reveals what his next move will be.
