Warbird Information Exchange

Canada is expected to commit to buying F-35
Fort Worth Star Telegram 07/15/2010
Author: Sandra Baker
Copyright 2010


If reports out of Canada and elsewhere are right, our neighbors to the north may formally announce soon that they plan to buy the F-35 joint strike fighter for their next-generation combat aircraft.

A Lockheed Martin spokesman declined to comment on the matter. But The Globe and Mail , Canada's second-largest newspaper, reported last month that the government was planning to commit to F-35 purchases despite pressure from Lockheed competitors to hold a formal competition.


Other reports in recent days have indicated a Friday announcement is likely.


The Globe and Mail said Canada expects to eventually buy 65 F-35s. The expected announcement probably would not be a formal order, since the Canadians are not in a hurry to replace their CF-18s and the F-35 is in the beginning stages of flight testing and years away from combat readiness.


Instead, The Globe and Mail says, the commitment is a way to ensure that Canadian industry benefits from other nation's expected orders. The paper quoted government documents as saying that "Canada must commit to the JSF program to realize benefits," pointing to a potential for $12 billion in future work.


Canada has invested $160 million so far in development of the F-35, and Canadian companies have received $350 million in contracts, the newspaper said, citing a government document.

Conservatives announce $9B purchase of military fighter jets
By Laura Stone, Postmedia News July 16, 2010 12:02 PM

OTTAWA — Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced Friday morning a $9-billion plan to buy
military fighter aircraft, a deal that will constitute the largest military purchase in Canadian history.

The new fighter aircraft would replace the current fleet of CF-18s, beginning in 2016. Those fighters were recently upgraded at a reported cost of $2.6 billion.

"I'm convinced the F-35 (fighter jet) is good for Canada, good for Canadians, good for the Forces and good for Canadian industry," MacKay said during a late-morning news conference at hangar at the Ottawa airport.

But the acquisition of an expected 65 new F-35 joint strike fighters from U.S. firm Lockheed Martin Corp., has already drawn the ire from federal Liberals.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said the decision to approve the expected deal should be reviewed, describing it as a secretive and unaccountable process for a sole-sourced plan that is expected to cost $16 billion over 20 years. He said a Liberal government would put the contract on hold.

MacKay defended the deal.

"We need an aircraft that enables Canadian men and woman to meet (the) increasingly complex demands we ask of them. This aircraft does that. This aircraft is the best we can give our men and women in uniform."

The Bloc Quebecois released a statement just prior to the announcement asking the Conservative government to ensure some of the contracts to maintain the fleet are tendered to companies based in Quebec.

"Too often, Quebec companies miss out on billions of dollars even though over 55 per cent of jobs in the Canadian aerospace industry are located in Quebec," Bloc MP Claude Bachand said in a statement.

"A lengthy and intense competition was completed in 2001 for who would build the F-35," said Rona Ambrose, minister of public works and government services. "Canadian companies and the Canadian government helped develop the F-35, and now we are exercising our option under the joint strike fighter memorandum of understanding to acquire it."

Canada has already invested $168 million U.S. in the JSF program. The F-35 Lightning II jets are being developed for the U.S. air force, navy and marine corps and the British navy.

"Canadian aerospace companies are being given an economic opportunity that is unprecedented," Ambrose said, adding Canadian companies will be allowed to compete in the global supply chain of F-35s, which represents thousands of jets.

Industry Minister Tony Clement said the joint strike fighter program will be beneficial for the Canadian aerospace industry.

"Canadian companies will have direct involvement in the design of equipment in the short term, while also setting in motion opportunities for decades to come," he said.

The F-35 is less visible to radar, providing very low observable stealth, and has an integrated sensor fusion that provides the pilot with all available information at a glance, and high-capacity, secure net-enabled operations that allows all F-35 aircraft pilots to communicate with each other and to share data in a secure environment, according to the Defence Department website.

The federal government also announced this week it has restarted the planning process to build two new navy ships, a $2.6-billion project that's also expected to take until at least 2017 to be completed.

The new ships would replace Canada's 40-year-old supply vessels HMCS Protecteur, based at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, and HMCS Preserver, based at CFB Halifax.

With files from Mike De Souza and David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/C ... z0trWsdxdc

Canada Plans to Buy F-35s, but Hurdles Remain
New York Times 07/16/2010
Authors: Ian Austen and Christopher Drew
c. 2010 New York Times Company

OTTAWA — The Canadian government is expected to announce on Friday that it will buy 65 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin.

The announcement of a multibillion-dollar commitment by a foreign government would be a big boost for the jet program, which has been plagued with delays and substantial price increases. It is also being made without bids from other manufacturers.

But long before any announcement was imminent, the purchase became politically controversial in Canada. On Thursday, the Liberal Party said that it would oppose the purchase. An alliance of opposition parties could stall or block the deal.

“I’m not suggesting that this may not be the best fighter aircraft for the Canadian forces,” said Ujjal Dosanjh, a Liberal member of Parliament responsible for defense issues. “But we don’t know that without going through a process.”

“It’s nice to have the latest and the greatest, said Jack Harris of the New Democratic Party. “But do we need that to protect our country? We’re not, as we were in the cold war, facing off against the Soviet military.”

The offices of Stephen Harper, the prime minister, and Peter MacKay, the defense minister, did not respond to requests for comment.

Canada is one of eight countries that are helping the United States build the fighter, which will be less detectable by radar than older planes and versatile enough to attack ground targets. The Canadian government has announced that it will phase out its recently updated fleet of CF-18 jets beginning in 2017.

Kim M. Testa, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin, said that Canada would complete the procurement in 2014 and begin accepting delivery of the first F-35s two years later.

Canada is likely to pay at least $4 billion for the planes, and one factor that may determine the political fate of the deal is Lockheed’s willingness to buy parts from Canadian suppliers.

Ms. Testa said that Lockheed would buy about $10 billion of components and parts from Canadian aerospace companies as part of the deal. That is in line with Canada’s usual demand that foreign companies spend about $2 in Canada for every dollar they receive through government contracts.

Other nations have also debated the necessity of an aircraft as costly and sophisticated as the F-35. Opposition leaders in Denmark and the Netherlands are questioning whether they can afford to buy such a plane at a time when their economies are under pressure. Lockheed, however, needs to hold onto the foreign sales to lower the cost of the planes.

The American defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, recently revamped the F-35 program and removed the general in charge, after the Pentagon’s projected costs soared by 64 percent to $382 billion for 2,457 planes. The eight allies have invested a total of $4 billion in developing the plane and could buy hundreds of the planes through specific orders, most of which remain to be negotiated.

But Lockheed Martin’s chief executive, Robert J. Stevens, said in June that the company was cutting its costs and improving the efficiency of its production.

Though recent Pentagon estimates have placed the cost of a single F-35 as high as $112 million, Mr. Stevens said Lockheed believed it could lower the cost, by 2014 or 2015, to be comparable to updated and fully loaded versions of older fighters, like Boeing’s F/A-18 and Lockheed’s own F-16. That would reduce the price of each F-35 to about $65 million.

Ms. Testa, the Lockheed Martin spokeswoman, said that the final price would be determined through negotiations between Canada and the United States. But she said Lockheed expected to sell planes for around that price or a little more. That could amount to about $4.2 billion to $4.5 billion for the 65 planes, not accounting for inflation, maintenance or parts.

Politicians in Canada have repeatedly cited estimates from the Canadian news media ranging from 9 billion Canadian dollars ($8.7 billion) for the basic contract and up to 16 billion Canadian dollars ($15.5 billion) when service costs are included.

While Canada did not call for tenders, Boeing has been lobbying the Canadian government and opposition politicians to consider the F/A-18, an update of the aircraft that is the basis of the government’s current CF-18s. And a consortium of European manufacturers has been promoting the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The Canadian military has been remarkably absent from the public debate. While it is believed that its leadership is not opposed to the government’s plan to buy new aircraft, there are indications that some have concerns about the F-35.

Canada’s air force rarely flies combat missions, arguably making some of the F-35’s advanced features, like radar-evading stealth, seem like frills.

Unlike the twin-engine CF-18, the F-35 has only one engine. Its failure could leave pilots exposed to the harsh Arctic environment as they await rescue.

Ian Austen reported from Ottawa and Christopher Drew from New York.