"Who Knows What They are Going to Demand From Us?"

"The Long-Range Precision Strike [Land] project will significantly enhance Canada's defence capabilities, both domestically and abroad."

"This project is progressing well and we are expecting to share additional details in the coming months."

"[Procurement decisions in Canada are based on national security priorities; the federal government is] closely monitoring the trade situation in the U.S., and assessing potential impacts to existing projects."

Department of National Defence spokesperson Kened Sadiku

Canada's military leadership is pushing for a sole source deal for the U.S.-built High Mobility Artillery Rocket System or HIMARS. Photo by Lance Cpl. Nicholas Guevara U. /24TH MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT

 

Remarkably, if not damningly, military leadership in Canada seems content to push forward with another sole source agreement for American military equipment in the face of President Donald Trump's relentless drive to destroy any semblance of historical friendliness between Canada and the U.S., vowing to move on with his punishing trade tariffs and continuing his harassment threatening Canadian sovereignty. Unsurprisingly, Canadians are acutely disinterested in becoming their neighbour's 51st state, and nor are they impressed that their erstwhile friendly neighbour has set out to drain Canada's economy through hostile actions. 

In the face of this disruptive tension, the Canadian Armed Forces is leading a move to have the Liberal government purchase the American-built High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). HIMARS has been in use in combat by the Ukraine military against Russian forces. Once President Trump entered office, he took steps to reduce the weapon system's effectiveness through limiting the flow of data and intelligence required for its critical operations. Effectively leaving the Ukrainian military high and dry with a high-powered system whose software effectiveness and intelligence-sharing has been deliberately tampered with.

 

The Canadian Forces' senior leadership plan is for the purchase of a number of HIMARS built by Lockheed Martin through a sole source deal handled through a foreign Military Sale where Canada would receive the equipment from the U.S. government directly. Department of National Defence spokesperson Kened Sadiku, asked why a HIMARS purchase would even be considered under current hostile circumstances between Canada and the U.S. where the latter has imposed staggering tariffs and sovereignty threats on the former, delivered a verbal shrug in response.

 

Canada’s military leadership is pushing for a sole source deal for the U.S.-built High Mobility Artillery Rocket System or HIMARS. Photo by Sgt. Adam L. Mathis U.S. Depar /U.S. ARMY

The equipment acquisition could come to about $5 billion with the project involving purchasing launchers, fire control software, munitions and spare parts. The proposed acquisition along with other recent Canadian defence purchases has caused consternation among Canadian industry officials and military analysts. According to one official in the defence industry, the Canadian military leadership is "tone deaf" to the threat the Americans under this new administration poses to the country. 

Assuming a scenario where the U.S. controls most of the technology on its equipment, the Canadian Forces faces a dilemma. With full control over software and hardware upgrades on Canada's $19-billon fleet of F-35 fighter jets on order, the aircraft being built by Lockheed Martin in the U.S. has prompted defence industry officials to warn that with the U.S. controlling many of the key systems on board Canada's new warships, as with the aircraft, the U.S. has the potential to hold Canada hostage over future upgrades or spare parts.

 

Those legitimate concerns aside, pressure from the U.S. has led the Liberal government and Canada's military to double down on ordering American-supplied equipment. 2023 saw close to $30 billion spent in new military systems, most of which were from U.S. firms exclusively, including an $8 billion sole-source deal with Boeing for new surveillance aircraft. That, despite that Liberal cabinet ministers had previously claimed Boeing was not an trustful industrial partner.  

In the hope that the deals could serve to placate American politicians who had raised concerns that Canada was failing to spend enough on defence, this was the chosen route, which in the final analysis did nothing to alter the criticism. The push by the Canadian Forces to acquire American has, in addition, provided little benefit for domestic firms. Much of the sentiment behind these self-defeating procurement efforts can be ascribed to the closeness of the Canadian military leadership to their American counterparts plus its reluctance to shift focus from America's protective shield.

"This is what happens when you exclude Canadian companies: You find yourself potentially being held hostage." 

"We don’t control the [combat management] system; the Americans do."
"Who knows what they are going to demand from us?"

Alan Williams, former procurement chief, Department of National Defence

An artist's rendering of the Canadian Surface Combatant. Photo by Government of Canada /HANDOUT