Article content

By Lee Berthiaume

OTTAWA — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed Thursday that $488 billion U.S. in Pentagon budget cuts will affect his country’s plans to purchase the troubledF-35 joint strike fighter — which likely will threaten Canada’s timeline for acquiring the stealth fighter as well.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or U.S. defence cuts may jeopardize Canada's purchase of F-35 fighter jets Back to video

Panetta did not give any specifics as he addressed reporters in Washington, but previous reports out of the U.S. had indicated the Pentagon would be putting off production on as many as 179 F-35s from its plans over the next five years, starting with 13 fewer in 2013.

[np-related]

“It’s a program that remains essential for the future of our superiority,” Panetta said. “But in this budget, what we’ve done is slowed the procurement to allow for more testing and development.

“We want to make sure before we go into full production that we are ready.”

The U.S. military has planned to purchase 2,443 F-35s over the next decade. But over the past few months, numerous reports have emerged of the F-35 program being plagued with technical problems, delays and cost overruns.