Warbird Information Exchange

Euro.cz: Canada interested in Czech fighter planes
ČTK |

13 October 2009

Prague, Oct 12 (CTK) - The Canadian Royal Air Force (RCAF) has voiced interest in the purchase of nine Czech L-159 light fighters for its aerobatics demonstration team Snowbirds, but the Czech Defence Ministry had not reacted for six months to it and only did so in August, the server Euro.cz writes Monday.

Ministry spokesman Andrej Cirtek said as the talks were in their initial stage, he could not elaborate.

The Czech Republic has been trying to sell 47 of the aircraft for years as the Czech military does not need them.

Canada has set aside an equivalent of two billion crowns for the renewal of Snowbirds. At the beginning it was considering extending the life span of the 35-year-old Canadian-made CT-114 Tutors, but later it came up with the idea of the purchase of L-159s, Euro.cz writes.

The Canadian authorities wanted to settle the affair by the beginning of the summer, but then they postponed the decision by six months, Euro.cz writes, but despite this, no one from the Czech Republic checked from the spring till August whether the information on Canada's interest was truthful.

Euro.cz writes that Martin Bartak, former deputy defence minister for strategic planning and now Defence Minister, did not dare or want to discuss the bid during the political turmoil following the March fall of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's government.

It was only in early August that Czech air force attache Jan Sykora in Washington flew to Prague to discuss the affair with Czech authorities.

Jan Fulik, a newly appointed deputy defence minister, confirmed in the second half of August that the Czech Republic was interested in the deal.

St.-John Williamson, vice president for business development and sales of Aero Vodochody, aircraft manufacturer, and Mike Mendoza, a special aide to the company's board, then prepared the documents for the talks with Bartak's Canadian opposite number Peter MacKey in Ottawa on September 19.

"As Canada is dealing with the question of a training plane for its air force, it is possible for the Czech L-159 to seek the bid. The Czech army could use the Canadian cargo planes C-17 for the transport of troops and materiel abroad," Cirtek said.

"The only thing we can reveal is the fact that the talks were conducted, while no agreements have been concluded," Martin Danko, public relations manager from the firm Penta, Aero's owner, said.

At first, the Czech military was to buy 72 L-159 Alcas, under a contract signed 1997. The military later said it would only keep 24 of them and the government decided in 2004 that it wanted to sell 47 aircraft.

Copyright 2009 by the Czech News Agency (ČTK). All rights reserved.

Why would they go with an aircraft type that has nothign to do with CAF? They should go with the Hawk aircraft as it is already in use as the primary jet trainer in Canada..

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Cheers,
Peter

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let me venture a guess....MONEY?

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

"Canada has set aside an equivalent of two billion crowns for the renewal of Snowbirds"

Sorry but this is not how our acquisition process works.

I would know.

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Live long and prosper

I think you have to have a bit of a sense of humour when you read the article, it made me laugh. Especially the part that says if you let us use your C-17 to move our army around, we'll give you a break on the price. Next thing you know is that someone will be telling us Canada is pulling out of the F-35 program and will be buying SU-35's instead.

I wouldn't take it too serious, I think the Czechs are on a fishing expedition to find a buyer for the aircraft.

BTW, what ever happened to the Hawk replacement for the Snowbirds idea that was being proposed, I haven't heard or seen anything on the subject lately.
http://www.casr.ca/bg-snowbird-project.htm

Brian.

Hmmm...

Our government would be more likely to cancel the program altogether to save money than to buy Czech planes ! They already talked about it before...

I too beleive the Hawk option would be more logical even if those, I beleive, are not really owned by Canada by only leased... But I may be wrong on that one.

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Michel C
Thousands of a/c pics at Passion-Aviation

There never was a Hawk replacemenet plan. That website is all one person's thoughts and opinions based on various facts. Neat site though.

The Hawks (and PC-9s) in Canada are not actually owned by the Canadian military. I'm guessing this is why they don't really use them to perform at airshows.

Really as old as the Tutors are they are in remarkably good shape. They have a pile of spares! I wouldn't be surprised to see them continue on with them for a while yet.
The Hawk would make an excellent option, but then Canada would have to buy some of there own.
The Snowbird website states the following: "There is a team, based in Ottawa at air force headquarters, looking at options to best support the Snowbirds in the future. At this time however, the Snowbirds can expect to fly the Tutor for the next several years."

And i suspect this doesn't include a Czech option!

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Mike

Ah yes, There we were, left engine on fire, right engine feathered...ahh yes,...there we were, ..Screwed! No Kissing!

That website is the "Canadian American Strategic Review", not the company that submitted the proposal.

The Hawk for the Snowbirds was an unsolicited proposal from a company(ies) that would provide newer, more relevant equipment to the Snowbirds.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Bombardier submitted an un-solicited proposal to DND to provide a NATO Flying Training Program which was extended to cover Canadian Air Force pilot training. I also think it was a non-competitive contract. This is a 20 year contract.

Bombardier is now the prime contractor for the NFTC and is responsible for providing and supporting aircraft, simulators, classroom training systems, maintenance services, and some ground school training. There's info on their website at http://www.nftc.com

So the idea of other companies submitting un-solicited proposals to DND is not that far fetched or unrealistic.

Brian.