{"id":23934,"date":"2026-01-27T05:50:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T05:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/?p=23934"},"modified":"2026-01-27T05:50:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T05:50:51","slug":"us-warns-they-will-send-fighter-jets-into-canadian-airspace-if-f-35-deal-doesnt-go-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/us-warns-they-will-send-fighter-jets-into-canadian-airspace-if-f-35-deal-doesnt-go-through\/","title":{"rendered":"US warns they will send fighter jets into Canadian airspace if F-35 deal doesn\u2019t go through"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under the terms of NORAD, the US and Canada can fly in one another\u2019s airspace to intercept threats. <\/em>The United States could alter its decades-old North American Aerospace Defense Command deal with Canada\u00a0should its government backtrack<\/a>\u00a0on the purchase of\u00a088 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets<\/a>, the U.S. ambassador to Canada has warned.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the latest back-and-forth between the U.S. and Canada\u00a0over the deal<\/a>, Ambassador Pete Hoekstra cautioned that if Canada purchased fewer fighter jets, the U.S. would \u201cfill those gaps\u201d in security concerns.<\/em><\/p>\n

That could mean the U.S. would need to purchase more F-35 fighter jets for its own use and use them to\u00a0intervene in Canadian airspace<\/a>\u00a0more frequently.<\/em><\/p>\n

Under the current terms of NORAD, the U.S. and Canada can operate in one another\u2019s airspace to track or intercept threats. However, Hoekstra indicated U.S. intervention would go even further, should the fighter jet deal change, thus requiring new terms to the Cold War-era agreement.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hoekstra\u2019s comments come months after the\u00a0Canadian government indicated it was \u201creviewing\u201d\u00a0<\/a>the terms of the fighter jet deal after finding the\u00a0program<\/a>\u00a0to be costlier than expected.<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2022, Canada agreed to purchase 88 F-35A advanced fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, with the country initially committing to funding 16 deliverable jets.<\/em><\/p>\n

But quickly, the program ran into challenges. Not only has it taken longer than anticipated to manufacture the jets, but a 2025 initial audit of the deal found that the program had risen to $27.7 billion in cost \u2013 up from its initial $19 billion.<\/em><\/p>\n

With tensions between the U.S. and Canada increasing due to President Donald Trump\u2019s tariff threats, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for the review.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, Canadian officials are reportedly looking to other countries to supply it with fighter jets, including Saab, the Swedish aerospace and defense company that creates the JAS 39 Gripen E fighter. Saab has offered to manufacture the jets in Canada, creating 12,600 jobs.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

“The government is interested in all major projects that can not only protect Canada’s security and sovereignty, but also create jobs across the country,” M\u00e9lanie Joly,\u00a0the Minister of Industry, told CBC News.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

“We certainly can’t control President Trump, but \u2026 we can control our defense investments, who we award contracts to and how we are ultimately able to create jobs in Canada. So we’re going to focus on that.”<\/em><\/p>\n

But Hoekstra warned that if Canada chooses to purchase Saab\u2019s Gripen E jets, the U.S. would still need to reconsider how it works with it\u2019s northern neighbor on security.<\/em><\/p>\n

“If they decide they\u2019re going with an inferior product that is not as interchangeable, interoperable as what the F-35 is, that changes our defense capability,\u201d Hoekstra said.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0egretnewseditor@gmail.com\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under the terms of NORAD, the US and Canada can fly in one another\u2019s airspace to intercept threats. The United States could alter its decades-old North American Aerospace Defense Command deal with Canada\u00a0should its government backtrack\u00a0on the purchase of\u00a088 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, the U.S. ambassador to Canada has warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47471,"featured_media":23935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[198,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slider","category-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47471"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23937,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23934\/revisions\/23937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}