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Despite having soured relations with the Canadian government with a major trade dispute, Boeing is reportedly still planning to submit a bid on the contract to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force’s aging CF-18A+ Hornets, almost certainly offering new F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The Chicago-headquartered plane maker could try to make its submission more attractive by including upgrades its already working on for the Super Hornet, such as the range-extending conformal fuel tanks it is developing for the U.S. Navy. On Feb. 15, 2018, Reuters, citing unnamed sources, reported that Boeing had formally applied to be a part of Canada’s fighter...

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reopened the competition to select a fighter to replace the CF-18, two questions were raised from that decision, one with long-term implications, and one with immediate consequences. The first: when will the modernization of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) fighter force be complete? The second: what will the RCAF do to mitigate the so-called capability gap (Canada’s current fleet is more than 30 years old, and down from 138 to 77 aircraft) to have a certain number of the most capable fighter jets mission-ready at all times and to ensure the capacity to address...

PARIS --- The US government has offered Canada a batch of Super Hornet fighters at a price that is six times higher than the US Navy is paying for the same aircraft, analysis of official US documents reveals. It is generally understood that the cost of combat aircraft varies according to the amount of options, ancillary equipment, spares and weapons included in the package. However, as in all commercial transactions, prices depend on the buyer. Prices are also sometimes manipulated to influence prospective buyers to take a given course of action. This appears to be the case with the US...

The Canadian government is looking into buying second-hand fighter jets in Australia – instead of a new fleet of 18 Super Hornets – as it tries to force Boeing Co. to drop its trade dispute against Bombardier Inc., sources said. Federal officials said the government is refusing to sign a planned multibillion-dollar contract for Super Hornets as long as Boeing pursues its complaint against Bombardier at the International Trade Commission in the United States. A final decision to pull the plug on the Super Hornet contract has not been made, but tensions with Boeing are quickly escalating and the government...

Common sense is running strong in Ottawa as the Canadian Ministry of Defense has decided to move forward with negotiations for 18 Boeing Super Hornets as an interim fighter solution. We reported on this plan last June while it was still in the works. Now Defense Minister Sajjan has made it policy, along with other steps that will be taken to revitalize Canada’s overstretched tactical air power capabilities. The purchase will bolster Canada’s aging Hornet fleet while the competition to replace Canada’s roughly 75 CF-18s gets underway. It is estimated that the competition, which Sajjan said will be “wide open,”...

OTTAWA — There are few problems so bad that the intrusion of government can’t make it worse. But the pickle the Liberals have inherited on the CF-18 fighter jet replacement program and Bombardier’s bailout might both benefit from some creative thinking from Ottawa. Is it possible that the government could maximize its stone-to-bird ratio and use one dilemma to help solve the other? I was engaged in idle speculation with a defence analyst last week about the CF-18 replacements. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has said that a new statement of requirement for the jets will be released — one that...

Canada has had its very own F-35 saga over the last decade. In Ottawa, the beleaguered jet is so politically controversial that its procurement has become a major policy differential between the parties. Now, with the Liberals winning yesterday’s vote, it seems nearly impossible for the F-35 to find a home with America’s neighbor to the north. Just last month, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau made it clear that he intends to scrap the F-35 program all together. In its place he intends to run an transparent competition to choose a more affordable fighter. Even without Trudeau’s recent comments, it...

Last year, there was a brief stir concerning the plight of a rare combat veteran Avro Lancaster on outdoor display at Madawaska Municipal Airport in the Canadian city of Edmunston, New Brunswick. The city has owned Lancaster Mk.10P KB882 since her RCAF retirement in 1964. The LancasterÂ’s condition has deteriorated significantly after decades sitting outdoors, and a time of reckoning has arrived. While a small band of dedicated volunteers has done their best to preserve and maintain the old bomber, they do not have the resources to ensure her long term survival without a massive infusion of cash and expertise...

A highly-anticipated, government-commissioned report on the F-35 and its competitors shows little difference between the four warplanes when it comes to the vast majority of missions they will be required to perform. The only major exception is fighting against another country, though the report says such an event is “highly unlikely” to occur in the future, and even then, “the government is not obliged to undertake such a mission.” The findings are expected to set off another round of bitter debate in the House of Commons and defence circles over whether the government should move ahead with purchasing the F-35....

Canadian taxpayers will likely be on the hook for millions of dollars to keep the country’s aged CF18 fighter jets flying into the next decade because of delays in finding a replacement aircraft, secret documents show. The revelation represents the latest wrinkle in what has become one of the most troubled military procurement projects in Canadian history, which continues to sit in limbo as the countdown to next year’s election begins. The backbone of Canada’s air force, the CF18s were purchased in the early 1980s with the idea they would be retired in 2003. Instead, $2.6 billion was spent on...

The CT-114 Tutor is, by most definitions, a museum piece. However, think of it rather as “the little airplane that could—and still can” because, after nearly 50 years in service, the agile single-engine jet remains a key element of the Royal Canadian Air Force. While the appropriately-named Tutors have not been used for lead-in fighter training since 2000, when they were replaced with Beechcraft CT-156 Harvard II turboprops and BAE Systems CT-155 Hawk jets in the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program, two are still flown for systems evaluation purposes by the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE) in Cold...

Lockheed Martin Corp. ( LMT ) is expected to sell 65 of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets to Canada in a deal worth more than $8.2 billion, Reuters reported Thursday on its website, citing people familiar with the process. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet still must approve the transaction, although people told Reuters that key members of Harper's cabinet support the purchase from Lockheed following an 18-month review of the country's needs. A spokesman for Harper's office told Reuters the

Canadians are lucky to still have fighter jets that can go toe-to-toe with Russian MiGs and Sukhois. The fast and manoeuvrable CF-18s were built during the Cold War specifically for aerial combat. The F-35s that Canada is considering purchasing, however, are designed for a very different mission: evading air defences during the first wave of “shock-and-awe” attacks on the command sites, radar bases and anti-aircraft missiles of “rogue states” such as Iraq, Libya, Syria and Iran. The recent decision to deploy six CF-18s to Poland is almost serendipitous. Earlier this month, Stephen Harper received a long awaited “options analysis” from...

By: Mitch Potter Washington Bureau, Published on Tue Oct 22 2013 E 2 Reddit thXPLORE THIS STORY 2 PHOTOS Save to Mystar Share on Facebook inShareis! Republish WASHINGTON—Richard Fuller Patterson was a strapping young flyer with a world of promise when he died, alone and forgotten, almost 72 years ago in the cockpit of his Spitfire. Shot down over Belgium at age 26, with a Canadian insignia on his arm and his American citizenship in doubt. That’s how the end came for this graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School. Patterson was an heir to a name that still means...

The remains of two air force pilots missing nearly 72 years since their plane crashed in a cottage country lake north of Toronto have been recovered. British Royal Air Force Flight Lt. Peter Campbell, 24, and Royal Canadian Air Force Leading Aircraftsman Theodore "Ted" Bates, 27, were recovered in Lake Muskoka in October 2012. Officials said they didn't reveal the recovery operation until Friday as they didn't want the wreckage to be disturbed and wanted to make arrangements for the plane. "This particular dive operation will certainly stay with the team forever," Lt. Greg Oickle, the acting commanding officer of...

The F-35 jet has been the whipping boy for auditors and politicians all week, but it remains the darling of Canada’s aerospace industry. Industry veterans are shrugging off the vitriol of “scandal” and “fiasco” by remaining focused on the $12 billion they say the troubled program can bring to Canada. “It’s a state of the art platform,” says Maryse Harvey, an official at Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC). “Hence the delays and the challenges that they’re encountering — it’s pure innovation.” While the government decides what do to and who to blame for its deeply flawed military procurement process,...

What the Avro Arrow should have taught Ottawa about the F-35 Harry Swain is a former federal deputy minister of Industry Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada A Tory prime minister, secure in his majority but highly suspicious of his political enemies, finds himself blind-sided by obscure processes in the departments of Defence and Industry that had gravitated to the most advanced fighter plane in the world -- but one that cost more than the country could afford. It was fifty years ago, the prime minister was John Diefenbaker, and the plane was the Avro Arrow. Bowing to fiscal...

Canada is aiming to replace its aging CF-18 Hornets fleet, or what remains of it after nearly three decades of service, and much hangs on what will replace the aircraft. The planned replacement of the CF-18s, some dating to the early 1980s, coincides with intense discussion on Canada's plans to buy up to 65 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets as part of a much delayed air force modernization. Debate has flared on the F-35's escalating costs and the feasibility of buying the jets when, according to critics, cheaper alternatives are available in the market. Critics have called for closer scrutiny...

Canada's auditor general has both National Defence and Public Works in his sights when it comes to the troubled F-35 stealth fighter program, say senior government sources. A draft copy of the scathing review, circulating in Ottawa for weeks, suggests the air force didn't do its pricing homework and government officials failed to follow procurement rules, say those who've read it. It's not clear whether the language will be toned down in the final report, Michael Ferguson's first as auditor general, when it's released April 3. But federal officials familiar with the document note no final decision on purchasing the...

Canada's government is nervously awaiting an Auditor General's report, which is expected to be highly critical of the F-35 fighter jet procurement program. Some commentators have said that in the aftermath of the report, the government may retreat into a "wait and see" attitude on the project, gauging further developments both in the United States and abroad before making a final decision on purchasing the aircraft. That process could take up to a year. Cost overruns and technical delays have contributed to rising concern with the $382 billion Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program. The General Accounting...