F
OR THE SECOND time in
10 years, the Canadian
government is moving to
replace the aging McDonnell
Douglas CF-188 fighters of the
Royal Canadian Air Force. The
Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP),
under Liberal Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau, plans to acquire 88 new fighter
aircraft for Canada though an open
competition. If all goes to plan, the first
of these could enter service starting in
2025, with the fleet projected to remain
in inventory past 2060.
‘Canada’s current [CF-188] fleet is now
more than 30 years old and is down from
138 aircraft to 77,’ said a government
news release on November 22, 2016. ‘As a
result, the Royal Canadian Air Force faces
a capability gap. The number of mission-
ready [airplanes] we can put in the air
today is fewer than our NORAD and NATO
obligations combined.’
Canada has temporarily solved its
pressing issue of aircraft availability
through the purchase of 25 second-
hand F/A-18As from the Royal Australian
Air Force (RAAF).
Looking further ahead, as of February
22 this year, Canada had accepted
applications from Airbus Defence and
Space for the Eurofighter Typhoon,
from Boeing for the F/A-18E/F Super
Hornet, from Dassault for the Rafale,
from Lockheed Martin for the F-35
Lightning II and from Saab for the Gripen
E/F to be included on the FFCP official
fighter supplier list. This enables all five
contractors to receive information on the
program, and ultimately have the chance
to bid to provide these aircraft under a
project with a projected cost of US$15
billion. The field offers few surprises,
representing a sensible cross-section of
fighters offered in the market.A drawn-out process
Ironically, if the 2010 decision by the then
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen
Harper to buy 65 F-35s for $9 billion had
been allowed to stand, Canada wouldhave seen new aircraft coming into its
fleet beginning in 2016. However, media
revelations about F-35 costs, coupled
with the lack of popularity of the Harper
government — plus the pledge of Liberal
candidate Trudeau to kill the program
if he were elected Prime Minister in
2015 — doomed the F-35 acquisition
when Trudeau came to power.
However, by the time the purchase was
terminated, Lockheed Martin had already
welcomed Canadian suppliers into the
F-35 fold. This action was in line with the
‘economic benefits’ all non-Canadian
military suppliers must provide to the
country’s industries, in exchange for
Canadian procurement success.
In a statement sent to Combat Aircraft
by Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer
said, ‘Canada remains a valued partner on
the F-35 program and its industrial
contributions — exceeding
$1 billion in supplier contracts
to date — will assist in the
production of more than 3,000
aircraft for the global fleet. The economic
benefits of being a partner on the F-35
program have had a very positive impact
on Canada’s aerospace industry.’
Lockheed Martin has always argued that
industrial contracts are always about best
value, not just the offset. However, clearly,
they would be at risk if a country failed to
purchase F-35s.Interim solution
In 2017, having shunned the F-35, Canada
announced plans to spend CAD$6.3
billion (about US$5 billion) to buy 18
Super Hornets from Boeing. This purchase
was pitched to taxpayers as an ‘interim
measure’ to offset the ongoing attrition
of the RCAF’s CF-188s prior to a full-scale
fleet replacement.
It all went wrong when Boeing asked
the US government to impose a 292 per
cent tariff on Canadian-built Bombardier
CSeries (now Airbus A220) passenger
jets amid claims of excessively low prices
for the Canadian jets. After meeting
President Trump in October 2017, theDelays in the decision-making process for a new fighter are
hampering Canada’s drive to replace its aging CF-188 force.
Combat Aircraft examines the reasons for this and evaluates
options for the way ahead.REPORT James Careless
Canada will retain
its CF-188s until
at least 2025,
with ex-Royal
Australian Air
Force Hornets
supplementing
them as an
interim measure.
RCAF/Mike Reyno36 September 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
36-39 Canadian Fighters C.indd 36 18/07/2018 15:42