Canada has received its first pair of new F-35 fighter jets, with Ottawa still deliberating on how many of the American planes it will buy.
The Royal Canadian Air Force announced receiving the two Lockheed Martin jets Friday on social media with a photo from Phoenix showing one plane with a maple-leaf roundel.
The air force could not immediately say when it will start training pilots with the new planes, which U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra recently hailed as “the best fighter in the world.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney has paused plans to proceed with a planned order for 88 of these stealth fighter jets, and it may instead have a mixed fleet that includes Gripen jets made by Saab.
Carney launched a review of the purchase amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated trade and annexation threats, and the review was supposed to have concluded a year ago.
Last year, Trump mused about providing allies with jets that have limited capabilities in order to maintain American supremacy, and former foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy warns in a Saturday blog post that Washington controls software used by F-35 jets.
After seeing what the USA has done to Ukraine by interfering with the Starshield system I would strongly suggest to buy the Gripen fighter from Sweden. The F 35 depends on Starlink to function and when the USA can shut down this system at will it means Canadian F35s are controlled by them. The Gripen can operate independently and is more reliable in a climate like Canada’s.
Ted
October 25, 2026 at 5:32 pm
Yes look what happened with Star link and Ukraine, they hacked the terminals to use them for offensive missions & that went about TOS so Elon Musk throttled them back, but go on Orange Man Bad right.
Better do a full inspection of these fighters. Likely the USA used substandard parts to make them unusable in the long term or purposely sabotaged them to kill Canadian pilots.
The “throttle back” of technology to Ukraine by the US is a tangible reason why buying any more of these technology dependent aircraft truly insane. Canada should fulfill its contract obligation and move on to an aircraft we can control not a foreign unfriendly country.
The Gripen’s 4 1/2th-generation technology looks like a joke next to the 5th-generation technology of the CF-35A Lightning II, now a reality as part of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Perhaps Sweden ought to check back when it is no longer a mere nominal NATO ally and transitions to being a proven NATO ally. Canada will have all 88 of its CF-35A Lightning IIs delivered by then, part of the price of a trade-and-defence agreement that Canada MUST have with the U.S. Macron has said Canada is welcome to purchase the Dassault Rafale.
Do not use these because: US can sabotage flight, buying from US funds terrorists, US doesn’t need the $ and other countries do, ALL MONEY NEEDS TO STOP GOING TO AMERICA. They’re no longer willing to support the world but expect the world to purchase everything from them, money should go to countries that are willing to actually take part in improving the world. You don’t financially support people trying to advance their own positions and ruin everyone else.
• These aircraft are fully functional and equipped with their standard dual lithium-ion battery systems (which are essential for starting the engine and powering back-up flight control systems).
• The Source of Confusion: While the jets have batteries, the broader F-35 program has made news regarding delivery omissions. The U.S. military has accepted some F-35 variants without radar systems installed due to supply chain delays with the newer AN/APG-85 radar. Additionally, past political rhetoric saw Donald Trump muse about providing allies with “limited capability” jets. These separate stories likely blurred together online into the joke or rumor that Canada’s planes arrived without batteries
Do better Ben.
I hope all of you who are suffering from TDS realize that the Americans own the primary intellectual property rights and regulatory control over the engines used in the Saab Gripen.
A lesser aircraft and still owned by the USA.
Did Carney forget to explain that part to ya’ll?
Guess so.
Looks like the F35 is the only logical option at this point. Because either way, America owns you.
The F35’s came with no batteries. A joke from Trump.
@J McRae and Ted Your comments are spot on.
Hopefully this is the last and only F35 we purchase . The usa has shown itself to be an unreliable partner . With over priced products and no future support.
USA holds the software for these jets. Look what happened to Ukraine with starlink. USA slowed their access to information to defend against missile and drone attacks. Let’s just take the first batch we paid for and then get a different jet that isn’t controlled by America. They have proven they can’t be trusted