Canada receives its first two F-35As at Luke Air Force Base as Ottawa keeps the rest of the order under review

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has entered the stealth era with two fighters that were delivered on American, not Canadian, soil. Canada took delivery on Thursday, October 22, of its first two F-35A Lightning IIs, designated CF-35A in Canadian service, at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. The RCAF announced the delivery in a post on X on Friday, October 23, saying that “the future of air and space power is built on more than just equipment”.

The choice of Arizona is deliberate. The first eight Canadian aircraft will be based at the F-35A Pilot Training Center at Luke, so Canadian pilots can train there while infrastructure at home is completed. The first fighters are expected on Canadian soil in 2028, according to the programme page of the Department of National Defence.

The 88-aircraft programme

The Future Fighter Capability Project provides for 88 fighters to replace the ageing CF-18 Hornets. Ottawa confirmed the F-35A on January 9, 2023, and the total value is estimated at C$27.7 billion, covering not only the aircraft but also associated equipment, support, training, IT services and squadron facilities.

Initial operational capability is planned for 2029-2030 and full operational capability for 2032-2034, with the fleet expected to remain in service beyond 2060. The department itself calls the approved schedule “fairly ambitious” and says the project team is managing the related risks.

In Canada, the new squadrons will be split between two bases: 4 Wing at Cold Lake, Alberta, will host three squadrons and 3 Wing at Bagotville, Quebec, two, with new fighter facilities planned since 2020. A C$15.8 million contract has already gone to Raymond EMC Enclosures for the secure TAC-SAPF rooms at Cold Lake used to handle classified information, delivered from September 2026 to May 2027 and regarded as a key element of the infrastructure needed for the 2028 arrival. L3Harris MAS in Mirabel, Quebec, has been named strategic partner for a study on an F-35 maintenance, repair and upgrade facility, and since October 2024 Canada has taken part in the ACURL laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, where the aircraft’s mission data files are developed.

A government still reviewing the purchase

The delivery comes while Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is still reviewing the purchase. Ottawa is committed to the first 16 aircraft, while the prime minister has ordered a review of the contract for the remaining 72. “The acquisition of the F-35 is under review. It will remain under review until it isn’t,” Defence Minister David McGuinty told The Canadian Press in early September, adding: “We’re going to take the time we need to get it right.”

The Canadian delivery coincides with a busy week for the programme. Finland received two more F-35As at Rovaniemi, and the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin announced a framework agreement for multiyear production that also covers international customers’ orders in Lots 21 to 30. For Canada, the choice of the F-35 followed a long competition from which Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Block III Super Hornet was eliminated in 2021.