Trump’s offer of F-35 to India: A game-changer for air superiority

ISLAMABAD: The fifth generation most sophisticated US multi-role stealth plane that has been offered by President Donald Trump to India is being discarded by Canada and Portugal in the wake of “tariff war” initiated by the US president against several countries.

The media reports have suggested that amid a full-blown trade war with the US, Canada is looking for alternatives to the US-made F-35 stealth fighter jets, Canada’s Defence Minister Bill Blair has said.

The decision, among the first taken by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet, comes with US President Donald Trump imposing a blanket 25% tariff on goods coming from Canada. “It was the fighter jet (F-35) identified by our air force as the platform that they required, but we are also examining other alternatives -- whether we need all of those fighter jets to be F-35,” Blair told CBC.

The development comes a day after Portugal indicated that it would ditch its acquisition of F-35 jets. The stealth fighters were also offered by Trump to India during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit in February.

Interestingly, a report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) flagged rising costs and performance issues with the F-35, hailed as the most advanced and ambitious defence project of the United States. The report surfaced last year.

In 2023, after years of delays, the Canadian government zeroed in on the US F-35 for its air force and signed a $19 billion deal for 88 jets with Lockheed Martin in June.

The country, which is also facing an annexation threat from Trump, has already paid for the first batch of 16 jets due to be delivered in 2026.

Blair, who retained his post as defence minister in the Carney cabinet, said that the first batch of jets might be accepted, and it could look at European manufacturers, such as the Swedish-built Saab Gripen, for the rest.