Is this the start of the decrease in the dependence on Europe and Canada to American armaments? Just a few hours after his nomination, the new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered the contract with the American manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp for combat aircraft F-35, reveals Bloomberg. A new front in the dispute between the two countries, against the backdrop of war at customs prices and expansionist rhetoric by Donald Trump, who would like to make Canada the 51st American state.
Mark Carney thus asked his Minister of Defense, Bill Blair, to “determine if the F-35 contract, in its current form, represents the best investment for Canada, and if there are other options that could better meet the needs” of the country, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense.
The Canadian government had signed, in 2023, an agreement with Lockheed for the order for 88 F-35, to replace the aging fleet of Canada’s war aircraft. All for Canadian $ 19 billion ($ 13.2 billion). If Canada has committed to finance the first sixteen planes, which should be delivered in early 2026, the recent provocations of Donald Trump pushed Mark Carney to think about a plan B for the rest of the military fleet. The agreement has not been canceled, but Canada must “ensure that the contract, in its current form, is in the best interests of Canadian Canadian Forces,” added the defense ministry spokesman.
Reacting to the Canadian announcement, a spokesperson for Lockheed Martin said that the company appreciated its “solid partnership and its history with the Canadian Royal Air Force” and that it was delighted to continue this partnership in the future, by defining the F-35 as “the most advanced, survivable and connected to the world’s safety, allowing the security of the 21st century and the deterrence of the allies”.
Update retention and spare parts
Other countries are in full hesitation in buying F-35 to modernize their military fleet. This is the case of Portugal, reports the site Politico. While Lisbon recently issued the wish to replace his F -16 planes – also American manufacturing – by F -35, the Portuguese Defense Minister Nuno Melo, said in an interview with the newspaper Publico : “We cannot ignore the geopolitical environment in our choices. The recent position of the United States, in the context of NATO … must encourage us to think about the best options, because the predictability of our allies is a major asset to take into account.”
If the F-35 hunters do not seem to be excluded definitively from the process of selecting the replacement of F-16s, the ministry said that a series of criteria will be taken into account by Lisbon, in particular “the geopolitical context” and “the extent of restrictions on the use of planes”. Given the unpredictable policy of Donald Trump, the Portuguese say they are feared that the US government decides to block access to the software and spare parts necessary to make the F-35 fully operational. “The world has changed … and this ally which is ours … could bring limitations to use, maintenance, components and everything related to the guarantee that planes will be operational and used in all types of scenarios,” said Minister Nuno Melo.
Germany warned
At the beginning of March, the boss of the military branch of the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus also warned the future German government, which wants to invest en masse in its rearmament, against orders with American industrialists. “If we use the increase in defense expenses to continue buying standard products in the United States, we are strengthening our dependence on other countries,” said Michael Schöllhorn in an interview with the regional daily Augsburger Allgemeine. Greeting the “logical and absolutely necessary” announcements of the next executive to be led by the Conservative Friedrich Merz, he pleaded for “the need to strengthen the sovereignty of Europe” in terms of armaments.
Michael Schöllhorn took the case of Denmark as an example. “The Danes, with their American planes F-35, realize that it may not be such a good idea, if they had one day having the idea of defending Greenland. They would not even arrive,” he said. Donald Trump repeats Greenland, a vast autonomous territory of Denmark, rich in minerals and hydrocarbons.
If Germany as the rest of Europe wants to strengthen its defense to prevent the growing risk of disengagement from the United States, dependence on American military equipment remains very great. In a report published on March 10, the International Peace Research Institute in Stockholm revealed a 155 % increase in imports from the United States to Europe.