A National Post editorial from the ninth of August raises concerns about Canada’s purchase of the F-35 amid the budgetary crisis playing out in the United States (“Editorial: U.S. Troubles darken cloud over F-35,” National Post, 9 August 2011).

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former naval aviator well known as a defence hawk (and former Republican presidential nominee), has raised the possibility of cancelling of the F-35 project altogether if its costs continue to spiral upward, and pressure is intense in Washington to make large cuts in government spending.

The newspaper finishes the piece by asking several tough questions that are of great concern to Canadians:

So what happens now that a super committee has been established to find ways to chop big costs, backed by a trigger that would slash the Pentagon’s budget if the committee fails? It’s going to be hard to ignore the suggestion that axing the jet would be one way to slice tens of billions off the books. And if the U.S. gets fed up, where does that leave Ottawa’s purchase plans?

U.S. Air Force photo