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Our CF-18s are routinely tasked to defend sovereign American territory for threats, just as USAF fighters are frequently sent to assist us in our security matters. Seamless integration is essential for our long-term national security. Perhaps the best example of the risks of failure occurred during the Kosovo Conflict, where CF-18s did not possess up-to-date jam-resistant radios. According to a group of Canadian historians, this forced:

…the entire NATO air strike effort to use single-frequency, jammable equipment. Although the enemy did not demonstrate any significant jamming capability, had they done so, in all probability Canada would have been told politely to go home.2

Unfortunately, Canada cannot simply “go home” in North American defence. If Canada were operating a less capable aircraft, it would be a clear liability for the US forces operating the F-35 and F-22 as their primary tactical fighters, and this would have severe consequences for our ability to defend our own state. A failure here has a clear risk of political fallout, as was evident last week when the second highest-ranking U.S. Senator, Orrin Hatch, described Canada as “stupid” if it decided to withdraw from the F-35 program.

Likewise, our other major alliance relationships will be affected by a choice of a different aircraft. Mr. Williams notes that nine different aircraft types carried out sorties over Libya in 2011. However in less than a decade, all but one of the aircraft he cites will be retired, supplanted in service by the F-35, or have planned interoperability upgrades.3 Put another way, of the seven NATO partners that conducted air-to-ground sorties in Libya, five (U.S., U.K., Netherlands, Italy and Norway), will operate F-35, with Belgium currently considering it as a replacement and only France not operating the aircraft. It should not escape notice that those five states are ones we most commonly operate with. All competitors, whether it be the F-35 or another option will require updates to maintain interoperability (some will require them at the time of purchase).