National Defence considering purchase of fighter drones that could fly with F-35

Government documents suggest purchasing a fleet of aerial combat drones that could fly alongside fighter jets could cost as much as $16 billion and would require hundreds of staff.

The Department of National Defence is looking at the possibility of complementing its incoming F-35 fleet with uncrewed combat aircraft.

Unclassified documents obtained by The Canadian Press show the department is researching various options for acquiring the emerging technology.

The documents suggest that purchasing a fleet of aerial combat drones that could fly alongside fighter jets could cost as much as $16 billion and would require hundreds of staff.

That cost estimate is in the upper range. The price tag and other aspects of the emerging technology remain uncertain, and the fact that the government is researching combat drones doesn’t guarantee that Canada will buy any.

David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said Canada’s allies are already headed in this direction, so at a minimum Ottawa will want to better understand how its closest military partners will use similar technology.

He said combat drones could give the air force more flexibility to contribute to allied operations and could act as a force-multiplier that would beef up the “mass” of the air force.

They’re also cheaper than fighter jets.

“There’s been a trade-off, particularly in the West, with investing in expensive things. It can have super high levels of precision and survivability … and we’ve been moving towards having increasingly expensive fighter aircraft that can do phenomenal things, but they’re so expensive that you can’t build all that many of them,” Perry said.