We will have to send fighter jets to their airspace if Canada doesn’t buy F-35s from US, says ambassador  

It allows the closest aircraft to respond to incoming threats irrespective of the airspace.

But according to Hoekstra, if Canada does not move forward with the purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets, NORAD would have to be altered.

“If Canada is no longer going to provide that [capability], then we have to fill those gaps,” Hoekstra told CBC News.

Hoekstra’s comments come in the backdrop of the Canadian decision last month to ‘review’ its $19 billion order for 88 F-35 stealth fighter jets for the US. Canada made the decision to review its fighter jet purchase following US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats on the country.

In 2023, Canada had inked a deal to buy 88 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, out of which 16 have been paid for and were to be delivered in 2026.

Along with the ‘review’ of its F-35 fighter jets deal with the US, Canada is also exploring the possibility of purchasing 72 Gripen E jets and 6 GlobalEye surveillance aircraft from the Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab.

According to Hoekstra, if the Carney government were to order Gripen fighter jets, the arrangement with NORAD would still have to be rethought.

“If they decide,” Hoekstra said, “they’re going with an inferior product that is not as interchangeable, interoperable as what the F-35 is, that changes our defence capability. And as such, we have to figure out how we’re going to replace that.”