Canada excludes Boeing from fighter jet competition

OTTAWA, Ontario — Canada has officially narrowed its decade-long hunt for a new fighter jet to two choices as the federal government confirmed U.S. aerospace giant Boeing’s Super Hornet is out of the running to replace the military’s aging CF-18s. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government refused to comment publicly at that time, and there was uncertainty around whether the U.S. aerospace giant had been dropped from the competition to provide Canada with 88 new fighter jets. But the federal procurement department confirmed in a statement Wednesday that Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter and the Swedish Saab Gripen are the only two aircraft still in contention. Many observers had seen the Super Hornet and F-35 as the only real competition because of Canada’s close relationship with the United States, which includes using fighter jets together to defend North American air space on a daily basis.