Canada invests another US$70M in F-35 development despite no commitment to buy

OTTAWA — The federal government has made another multimillion-dollar investment into the development of the F-35 stealth fighter jet despite no guarantee it will buy the aircraft.

Canada made the annual F-35 payment to the U.S. military last week, spending US$70.1 million to remain one of nine partner countries in the project.

Each partner is required to cover a portion of the plane’s multibillion-dollar development costs to stay at the table.

Staying in the program has advantages, as partners get a discount when purchasing the jets and compete for billions of dollars in contracts associated with building and maintaining them.

While the new payment brings Canada’s total investment in the F-35 over the years to US$541.3 million since 1997, the government says Canadian companies have also secured US$1.8 billion in work related to the stealth fighter over that time.

The payment comes as the federal government is considering another extension to the $19-billion competition to replace Canada’s aging CF-18s, in which the F-35 is one of three planes in the running.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2020.

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press