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OTTAWA — The company behind the F-35 is pushing back against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion the stealth fighter “does not work,” even as the U.S. Air Force says the planes should be ready for war in the fall.

Retired lieutenant-general Charles Bouchard, chief executive of Lockheed Martin Canada, said it was “disheartening” to hear Trudeau’s comment on Tuesday, in which the prime minister blasted the F-35 as a plane that “does not work and is far from working.”

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Bouchard did not want to respond directly to the prime minister, but told the Citizen in an interview: “This aircraft is ready to go. This aircraft is doing the job today. And this aircraft will do the job for the Canadian Forces, today and into the future.”

Trudeau’s comments came after Postmedia reported over the weekend that the Liberal government is intent on buying one of the F-35’s competitors, the Super Hornet. It’s believed the purchase will be labelled an interim measure to fill what Liberals have said is an existing “gap” in Canada’s fighter jet capabilities.