BREAKING NEWS

US military to sound out Canada's new government on jets, Iraq

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - The Pentagon's No. 2 will sound out Canada's new government on Friday on its defense plans following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's election on promises to scrap purchases of F-35 jets and pull Canadian aircraft from strikes on Islamic State.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said on Thursday that Canada's stance on Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 program was not entirely clear.
"We're not certain exactly what the Canadian position is," Work told reporters shortly before landing in Halifax, where he will attend a security forum.
"The Prime Minister has said that he wants to review it. But they have an awful lot of companies in Canada who were going to do work. So we don't know exactly where they're going. So I'm here basically to ask them: 'What is your position?'"
Canada, one of the nine countries in the initial F-35 partnership, pledged to invest $150 million in the program's development when it signed up in February 2002.