{"id":618944,"date":"2026-04-21T14:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618944\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:13:08","slug":"l3harris-to-establish-f-35-sustainment-depot-in-quebec-as-ottawa-reviews-fighter-jets-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618944\/","title":{"rendered":"L3Harris to establish F-35 sustainment depot in Quebec as Ottawa reviews fighter jets order"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

An F-35A Lightning II fighter jet practises for an air show appearance in Ottawa in 2019.Adrian Wyld\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s new F-35 fighter jets will be serviced in Quebec at a depot established through a collaboration between L3Harris LHX-N<\/a> and Lockheed Martin LMT-N<\/a>, though the number of jets Canada is ordering from the U.S. defence company remains unclear.<\/p>\n

L3Harris MAS, a U.S. subsidiary based in Mirabel, Que., was first identified by Ottawa as a strategic partner to support the long-term maintenance and operation of its new F-35 fleet in November, 2024. At the time, the federal government still intended to procure the full fleet of 88 F-35s.<\/p>\n

Today, that order has stalled at a legal commitment to buy only 16 jets while a review of the full purchase ordered more than a year ago by Prime Minister Mark Carney continues.<\/p>\n

In a press release Tuesday morning, Chauncey McIntosh, vice-president and general manager of the F-35 program at Lockheed Martin, said the company\u2019s collaboration with L3Harris MAS \u201cdelivers on Canada\u2019s requirement to develop in-country sustainment capability and to operate and maintain the Canadian F-35 fleet independently.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement from the two companies builds upon the federal government\u2019s selection of L3Harris MAS as a strategic sustainment partner two years ago and marks the creation of a joint executive steering committee to determine depot capabilities, work force training programs and sustainment plans.<\/p>\n

Roughly 30 Canadian suppliers already feed into the F-35 program, contributing $3.2-million per jet across an international fleet of more than 1,325 jets, according to the two companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepot-level sustainment means Canada\u2019s aerospace workforce will perform the same advanced maintenance currently done in only a handful of locations worldwide,\u201d said Jason Lambert, president of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for L3Harris, in a press release.<\/p>\n

L3Harris MAS already provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services to Canada\u2019s aging CF-18 fighters, which are due to be replaced by the country\u2019s incoming fifth generation fighter jet fleet.<\/p>\n

In December, Saab AB, the maker of the other fighter jet being considered for purchase by Canada, delivered new proposals<\/a> to Ottawa that forecast the creation of 12,600 jobs if the Swedish company\u2019s two main military aircraft were built in Canada. This includes the Gripen fighter jet and the GlobalEye surveillance plane.<\/p>\n

Industry Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly told The Globe and Mail at the time that Saab\u2019s proposal would result in 150 to 200 aircraft being built in Canada. She added that the company was \u201coffering a very attractive proposal\u201d being taken seriously by the government, as it looks to diversify away from the U.S. on defence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: An F-35A Lightning II fighter jet practises for an air show appearance in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,6347,20739],"class_list":{"0":"post-618944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-ne-i","11":"tag-ottawa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}