By Monitoring desk:
The United States could alter its decades-old North American Aerospace Defence Command deal with Canada should its government backtrack on the purchase of 88 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, the U.S. ambassador to Canada has warned. In the latest back-and-forth between the U.S. and Canada over the deal, Ambassador Pete Hoekstra cautioned that if Canada purchased fewer fighter jets, the U.S. would “fill those gaps” in security concerns. That could mean the U.S. would need to purchase more F-35 fighter jets for its own use and use them to intervene in Canadian airspace more frequently. Under the current terms of NORAD, the U.S. and Canada can operate in one another’s airspace to track or intercept threats. However, Hoekstra indicated U.S. intervention would go even further, should the fighter jet deal change, thus requiring new terms to the Cold War-era agreement.
But quickly, the program ran into challenges. Not only has it taken longer than anticipated to manufacture the jets, but a 2025 initial audit of the deal found that the program had risen to $27.7 billion in cost – up from its initial $19 billion. With tensions between the U.S. and Canada increasing due to President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for the review.
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