国际英语新闻：U.S. expects Canada to buy F-35

OTTAWA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said here on Thursday that he expects Canada's continued support for the F-35 joint strike fighter plane program, which is under fire from opposition politicians here.

Gates, in Ottawa for a meeting with Peter MacKay, his Canadian counterpart, waded into a debate on Canada's purchase of the F-35. The 16-billion-Canadian dollar (about 16.11 billion U.S. dollars) purchase and maintenance deal is expected to be an important issue in a federal election campaign that could come as early as April.

At a news conference after the meeting, Gates made it clear that the Obama administration expects Canada and other U.S. allies to buy the F-35.

"Without getting into domestic affairs in Canada I would just say that my hope is, for all of our sakes, that all of our partners continue to move forward with us on this program," Gates said.

He downplayed criticism of the F-35, saying the air force version, unlike the vertical take-off naval variant, has had few production problems and cost over-runs. He said he expects about 3, 000 F-35s to be built for the United States and its allies.

The Liberal Party of Canada opposes the purchase of 65 of the F- 35s, saying they are too expensive and are technically not suited to Canada's needs. The Liberals have already put commercials on Canadian TV channels to attack the deal.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff also claimed the government should have sought bids from other aircraft builders, rather than make an untendered deal with Lockheed Martin, the builder of the F- 35.

"We need this aircraft," MacKay told reporters. "It is the only fifth-generation aircraft that has the capability and the on-board equipment and the stealth capacity and the weapons radar system that is interoperable with our colleagues and our allies in the United States through NORAD."