New fighter jet purchase welcome news for Cold Lake

Eighty-eight F-35 fighter jets will be purchased by 2032 as the Government of Canada finalizes the deal, which is a sign of major work to happen at Cold Lake’s 4 Wing. 

The estimated $19 billion investment will mark one of the most significant investments in the Royal Canadian Air Force in more than 30 years. The F-18 Hornets that were commissioned in 1980 and now are well outdated will be set to retire as the new F-35s come in to be the new full-use aircraft.

The total program cost will be an estimated $70 billion.

“Canada has not carried its weight on military spending. It is long overdue. And so you know, I’m just thankful that the Prime Minister has made the right decision,” said the Mayor of Cold Lake, Craig Copeland.

“You see the men and women in 4 Wing and how they have managed to keep that F-18 up in the air all these years, we are finally going to give them a plane, and it looks like the best plane out there.” 

The City of Cold Lake will be seeing a lot of capital dollars spent on 4 Wing to take down the old hangars and put up a big office building that personnel will be working out of, plus the various hangarettes for the F-35s. 

“We’ll have countries coming here to fly in Cold Lake, and that will benefit everybody, in retail, hotels and restaurants. It’s going to be a big win for us,” said Copeland. 

The Government of Canada launched a competitive process to acquire new fighter jets back in 2017.

A set of sixteen F-35s with infrastructure and gear will be delivered in 2026. New fleets of F-35 fighter jets will occur as a staggered process, which will continue until the full fleet of 88 jets is acquired. 

The full 88 fighter jet fleet should be in use by 2032-2034.