US military to sound out Canada's new government on jets, Iraq

By Phil Stewart
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The Pentagon's No.
2 will sound out Canada's new government on Friday on its
defense plans following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's election
on promises to scrap purchases of F-35 jets and pull Canadian
aircraft from strikes on Islamic State.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said on Thursday that
Canada's stance on Lockheed Martin (N:LMT) Corp's LMT.N F-35 program
was not entirely clear.
"We're not certain exactly what the Canadian position is,"
Work told reporters shortly before landing in Halifax, where he
will attend a security forum.
"The Prime Minister has said that he wants to review it. But
they have an awful lot of companies in Canada who were going to
do work. So we don't know exactly where they're going. So I'm
here basically to ask them: 'What is your position?'"
Canada, one of the nine countries in the initial F-35
partnership, pledged to invest $150 million in the program's
development when it signed up in February 2002.
Those funds would not be reimbursed if Canada exits the
program. Many Canadian firms that supply parts worth hundreds of
millions of dollars to Lockheed each year could also lose those
orders. ID:nL1N12K1Q2
"We'd like as many partners in the F-35 program as possible.
But it's up for every country to decide what their defense needs
are," Work said, stressing he was not going to lobby Canada's
defense minister one way or the other when they meet on Friday.
Trudeau's Liberal party has said it would launch an open and
transparent competition to replace Canada's aging CF-18 fighter
jets, potentially offering hope to Boeing (N:BA) Co's BA.N F/A-18E/F
fighters.
Trudeau held his first formal meeting with U.S. President
Barack Obama on Thursday in the Philippines, moving to repair
relations that had become frayed over the past decade.
Trudeau is much closer politically to Obama than his
right-of-center predecessor, Stephen Harper.
The two leaders agreed on the importance of the U.S.-led
campaign against Islamic State but Trudeau vowed to stick to his
promise to withdraw six Canadian jets that have been attacking
the militants in Iraq and Syria.
Work said he would ask about those plans and about Canada's
plans for the mission training security forces in Iraq.
"I'm not here to put pressure on anybody. I'm just here to
say: 'Tell me what you're thinking. We're in this together,"
Work said.