Ottawa has made a choice that says as much about politics as it does about firepower. Canada will arm its future F-35A fleet with the Joint Strike Missile, the Norwegian-built cruise weapon that tucks inside the Lightning II’s belly without spoiling its stealth.

Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled the acquisition at the NATO summit in Ankara. The roughly $564 million deal makes Canada the sixth nation to field the JSM, following Norway, Japan, Australia, the United States and Germany.

For a country that has spent two years agonising over its American-made fighter, reaching for a European missile is a pointed gesture.

A missile built to hide

The JSM is an air-launched cousin of Kongsberg’s anti-ship Naval Strike Missile, and its party trick is discretion. It is the only weapon of its kind that fits inside the F-35’s internal weapons bay. The American JASSM and LRASM cruise missiles are simply too large; carried externally, they turn a stealth fighter into an ordinary radar target.

Inside the bay, the F-35 keeps its low profile all the way to the launch point. From there the JSM takes over: 416 kilograms, four metres long, high-subsonic, hugging the surface on a low-altitude flight profile, using an imaging-infrared seeker and automatic target recognition to pick out a specific ship or land target from more than 350 kilometres away. Integration will come under the F-35’s Block 4 upgrade.

Canada’s on-again relationship with the F-35

The missile lands on top of a fighter programme that has wobbled more than once. Canada signed a 19-billion Canadian dollar (about US$13 billion) deal for 88 F-35As in 2023, with deliveries beginning in 2026 and full capability expected by 2034. But after a diplomatic falling-out with Washington, Carney’s government openly weighed buying only the 16 jets it had already paid for.

Committing to a bespoke weapon for the F-35 reads as a vote of confidence in the platform — while the choice of a European missile keeps a hand free. It is the kind of hedge that has become a signature of Ottawa’s defence policy.

A European tilt

The JSM arrives amid a run of distinctly non-American purchases. Canada has selected Saab’s GlobalEye radar aircraft — built on a Canadian Bombardier business jet — in a deal worth more than five billion dollars, and NATO itself picked the GlobalEye this month to replace its ageing AWACS fleet. Carney has flirted publicly with the Saab Gripen, and Canada is acquiring Airbus-derived CC-330 Husky tankers. Kongsberg, for its part, is ploughing money back into Canadian industry as part of the deal.

The message from Ottawa is subtle but unmistakable: buy American where it makes sense, but keep a European string to the bow.

Sources: The Aviationist, Kongsberg, Defense News.