Canada will revise its requirements for its next fighter by eliminating all of them who are in favour of the F-35 and so practically will hold a new competition. This became clear from statements made by Canadian officials.

The Canadian government will ask the armed forces to completely rework the criteria for selection of new fighters for the country the acquisition of which is estimated at over $ 10 billion. This will be done in order to have a wider range of options before the country, rather than the direct purchase of F- 35A.

The new Liberal government of Canada wants to conduct a full competition for a new fighter for its country, not a formal choice that was conducted several years ago.

“The requirements have to be changed, because right now, the requirements are pointing toward only one aircraft,” said Harjit Sajjan, Minister of Defence of Canada. “Any requirements that we do set on, we have to make sure they allow for us to have different choices.”

In 2010, the Canadian government stated that it has chosen F-35A for a new multipurpose fighter for the armed forces of the country. The deal was supposed to be for 65 machines and worth about $10 billion. However, the choice has come under harsh criticism because of the seriously distorted criteria and the inaccurate data that has been used during the process.

Canada currently operates 77 fighters CF-18 that are going through repair and partial modernization, which will allow them to remain in service until around 2025.