Scrap F-35s for cheaper drones, defence analyst argues

The government should cancel plans to spend $9 billion on a new fleet of F-35 fighter jets because they are not necessary, defence policy analyst Steven Staples says in a paper published Thursday.

Staples says the government should extend the life of its current fleet of newly refurbished CF-18 fighters by confining them to domestic surveillance and interception roles and consider replacing many of them in the long run with much cheaper pilotless drones.

The president of the Rideau Institute, an independent, non-partisan defence and foreign policy think tank, weighed in on what he called the government's "fundamentally flawed decision" to buy F-35s in a paper published Thursday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

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