F-35 stealth fighter, Super Hornet top list of potential new fighters for Canada
OTTAWA — There are five potential replacements for Canada’s aging CF-18 fleet. Here’s a closer look at what’s known about the contenders:
F-35 — Lockheed Martin, U.S.
Largely overlooked in Tuesday’s news about a new competition to find a CF-18 replacement was confirmation that the F-35 is back in the running. The move represents the latest twist in the stealth fighter’s history in Canada, which included a promise by the previous Conservative government to buy it in 2010 and Justin Trudeau’s promise in 2015 to do precisely the opposite. The F-35 continues to face some developmental challenges and questions about cost, but a number of allies are already receiving it. For all those reasons and more, the stealth fighter can again be considered a front-runner.
Super Hornet — Boeing, U.S.