Tag Archives: Military spending

U.S. Air Force vows to protect the F-35 program from cuts

The U.S. Air Force is vowing to protect the costly F-35 fighter program, in spite of major budget pressures placed upon the Pentagon (“US Air Force vows to spare F-35 from budget cuts,” Agence France Presse, 19 September 2011).  Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told the Air Force Association that loss of the program would […]

National Post: U.S. troubles darken cloud over F-35

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 […]

Budget crunch, Pentagon-style

Only in our neighbour to the south could you find the following two sentences side by side in a news article (Julian E. Barnes, “Gates Says Cuts Would Curb Military Capacity,” Wall Street Journal, 19 May 2011): “The defense budget, including the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, currently totals about $700 billion […]

Fantino to fix military procurement?

Jane Taber reports on the role of new Associate Minister of National Defence Julian Fantino, who is expected to focus on military procurement issues (Jane Taber, “Peter MacKay gets a wingman on military procurement,” Globe and Mail, 19 May 2011): Dimitri Soudas, the Prime Minister’s director of communications, explained that Mr. Fantino – the former […]

Is the Defence Department feeling the heat over F-35s?

The Defence Department has commenced a public relations campaign to sell the Canadian public on the Harper government’s decision to buy the F-35 fighter (Steven Chase, “PR blitz aims to sell “skeptical public” on need for F-35 fighter jets“, Globe and Mail, 24 November 2010). Roundtables targeting opinion leaders in academia and industry are being held in […]