Defence minister not ruling out mixed fighter jet fleet as Canada reviews F-35 purchase

Canada’s Defence Minister David McGuinty discusses the tentative U.S-Iran peace deal, as well his upcoming trip to Brussels for a meeting with NATO.

Defence Minister David McGuinty is not ruling out a mixed fleet for Canada’s fighter jets, as the protracted review into the purchase of American-made F-35s drags on and Sweden’s Saab Gripens remain on the table.

“All that’s to be determined,” McGuinty told CTV Power Play host Vassy Kapelos in an interview Monday, when asked whether the federal government has ruled out a combined fleet.

Canada’s 2023 purchase of several dozen F-35 fighter jets from the U.S. company Lockheed Martin has been under review for 15 months, launched amid rising tensions with the United States. Of the total 88 planes agreed to in the initial deal, 16 are currently in production.

Saab, meanwhile, has thrown its hat in the ring, pitching its Gripen fighter jets to the federal government with a promise to produce the planes in Canada and create up to 10,000 manufacturing and research jobs.

And as reported by CTV News’ Jeremie Charron last week, multiple industry sources with knowledge of the discussions confirm the Canadian government is considering a mixed fleet of fighter jets that could total more than its initial target of 88 aircraft.

CBC News first reported that a mixed fleet of jets could include more than 100 aircraft.

McGuinty said the review into the F-35s is ongoing, and that the federal government is “looking at it carefully,” adding Canada is reviewing all needs across the armed forces, not just the Air Force.

He also pointed to an announcement from late last month that Canada plans to enter negotiations to buy the GlobalEye — a Swedish surveillance platform with Bombardier planes — as an example of the federal government’s ongoing efforts to assess armed forces needs.

McGuinty’s stance — that the fighter jet review is ongoing and the federal government is not ruling out a mixed fleet — has been unchanged since late April, when he said the same thing to Kapelos in an interview on CTV Question Period.

Is a submarine announcement coming?

Kapelos also asked McGuinty on Monday whether the federal government will make an announcement about submarine procurement before the end of the month, as the prime minister has promised.

“Well, look, today’s June 15, give me a bit of time here,” McGuinty said, laughing.

“The prime minister was clear: he mentioned the end of the month,” he also said. “We’re moving forward, very exciting.”

The defence minister added the Liberals have been “working hard on this procurement,” calling it both “complicated” and “big.”

The bid is down to two companies: South Korea’s Hanwha Oceans and Germany’s TKMS, narrowed down from a handful of bidders just a few months ago. During the interview, McGuinty highlighted the relatively short period of time Canada took to whittle down the options.

“But it’s also about Canadian jobs, Canadian benefits, industrial benefits, buying Canadian provisions, steel inputs, you know, engineering naval capacity,” McGuinty said. “It’s a very exciting moment now, and it’s very well received, and I think it’s helping to create a lot of energy in the country at a time when we need to rebuild our economy.”

Both companies are vying for a contract to supply the Royal Canadian Navy with up to 12 submarines, an order expected to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

You can watch Defence Minister David McGuinty’s full interview on CTV Power Play with Vassy Kapelos in the video player at the top of this article.