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. »
