China and Russia are currently working hard on building aircraft that are explicitly designed to counter the F-35. To date, it would seem that their aircraft are effective enough to be able to do that and that the strategic advantage, if you can call it that, would then be lost.
With this in mind, should we not just set this project aside and make a choice that seems more logical to us economically, among other things? When you come right down to it, most places we go don't have fifth-generation combat aircraft or extremely advanced military aircraft technologies.
The Webb and Byers report that came out yesterday stated that we could buy two Super Hornets for the price of one F-35. In his 2011 report, the Auditor General said that the distribution of the funds available to the Department of National Defence was one of the decisive factors in the operational readiness of the Canadian Forces. To maintain our operational readiness, wouldn't it be wiser to choose less costly aircraft that have done well in trials and have demonstrated their qualities, rather than invest in the F-35, which has not yet had its effectiveness proven? We also know that military forces are currently building aircraft specifically to counter this aircraft. Wouldn't it be wiser to make a less expensive choice in order to maintain a global operational readiness?