FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30 2022
Choosing the F35 means Canada rejecting peacekeeping, instead committing to wage wars of aggression
On Monday, Public Services and Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi and Defence Minister Anita Anand announced that the Canadian government had selected Lockheed Martin Corp., the American manufacturer of the F-35 fighter jet, as its preferred bidder for the $19 billion contract for 88 new fighter jets.
“I am deeply disappointed with the selection of the F35 as the next fighter for the Air Force” said Paul Maillet, retired Air Force Colonel and CF-18 engineering lifecycle manager. “This aircraft has only one purpose and that is to kill or destroy infrastructure. It is, or will be, a nuclear weapon capable, air-to-air and air-to-ground attack aircraft optimized for war fighting.”
“The F35 requires a very complex and unaffordable military battle management infrastructure reaching into space to realize its capabilities, and we will be wholly dependent on US military infrastructure for this,” added Maillet. “We will be just another squadron or two of the US Air Force and as such dependent on its foreign policy and military predispositions to conflict responses.””The F35 is not a defensive weapons system, but one designed to carry out aggressive bombing missions alongside US and NATO allies,” said Rachel Small, organizer with World BEYOND War and the No Fighter Jets campaign. “For the Canadian government to move ahead with purchasing this fighter jet, and 88 of them no less, goes beyond Prime Minister Trudeau breaking an election promise. It indicates a fundamental rejection of the Canadian government’s commitment to act as a peacekeeping country promoting global stability and instead lays out a clear intention to carry out wars of aggression.”
“With a sticker price of $19 billion and a lifecycle cost of $77 billion, the government will certainly feel pressured to justify its purchase of these exorbitantly priced jets by in turn using them,” adds Small. “Just as building pipelines entrenches a future of fossil fuel extraction and climate crisis, the decision to purchase Lockheed Martin’s F35 fighter jets entrenches a foreign policy for Canada based on a commitment to wage war via warplanes for decades to come.”
For more information:
Rachel Small, Canada organizer, World BEYOND War
Phone: 647-769-2472 Email: rachel@worldbeyondwar.org
Paul Maillet, retired Air Force Colonel and CF-18 engineering lifecycle manager
Phone: 613-866-2503 Email: pmaillet@magma.ca
