May 7, 2019 | Local, Aerospace
By Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — U.S. officials have threatened to pull the F-35 out of the competition to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force's aging CF-18 fighters over the Liberal government's plan to ask bidders to re-invest some of the giant purchase contract in Canadian industry.
The warnings are in two letters sent to the government last year and obtained by defence analyst Richard Shimooka. They were released in a report published Monday by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think-tank.
They say the requirement is incompatible with Canada's obligations as a member of the group of countries working together to develop the F-35 stealth fighter in the first place.
While the re-investment requirement is standard for most Canadian military procurements, the U.S. officials note Canada agreed not to include it when it signed on as one of nine F-35 partner countries in 2006.
Companies in those countries must instead compete for work associated with the plane — only companies from those countries are eligible, but they're supposed to compete on equal footing. The U.S. officials say conditions on bidders that would privilege Canadian companies will mean the F-35 won't be entered in the race.
The F-35, which is built by Lockheed Martin, had been expected to go up against the Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab Gripen and Boeing Super Hornet for an 88-plane procurement worth about $19 billion. French company Dassault pulled its Rafale from contention late last year.
"In summary, we cannot participate in an offer of the F-35 weapon system where requirements do not align with the F-35 partnership," U.S. Vice-Admiral Mathias Winter, program executive officer for the Pentagon's F-35 office, wrote on Dec. 18. "Such an offer would violate (the F-35 agreement) and place the entire F-35 partnership at risk."
In his letter to Paula Folkes-Dallaire, senior director of the fighter-jet program at Public Services and Procurement Canada, Winter asked for clarity by Jan. 31 as to the government's decision on the re-investment requirements.
Winter's letter followed a similar one from Ellen Lord, the Pentagon's head of military procurement, on Aug. 31, 2018.
In a statement, Public Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough's spokeswoman said the government has engaged in several rounds of discussions and exchanges with potential bidders, which included providing them with opportunities "to ask questions, raise concerns and provide suggestions.
"Our government has been hard working to address as much of the supplier feedback as possible to ensure a level playing field and a fair and open competition with as many eligible suppliers as possible," added Ashley Michnowski.
"This stage of the process is not yet complete, though is nearing its conclusion and a final (request for proposals) will be issued soon."
The Pentagon's F-35 office did not return requests for comment.
Stephen Harper's Conservatives first announced plans to buy 65 F-35s without a competition in 2010, but backed off that plan over questions about cost and concerns over the Defence Department's tactics in getting government approval for the deal.
During the 2015 federal election campaign, Justin Trudeau's Liberals promised they would immediately launch an open and fair competition to replace the CF-18s, but not buy the F-35.
The Trudeau government has since said the F-35 will be allowed to compete while officials had been expecting to finally launch that competition in the coming weeks.
That the re-investment requirement remains unresolved is both surprising and unsurprising given defence experts have long warned it would be a significant obstacle to running a fair and open competition that includes the F-35.
Canada, which has already contributed roughly $500 million over the past 20 years toward developing the F-35, could in theory quit as a partner country, but would have to pay more for the stealth fighters if the F-35 won the competition.
Canada could also be on the hook for hundreds of millions more in development fees despite quitting the program, while Canadian companies would not be allowed to compete for work related to the aircraft.
In a recent interview, the Department of National Defence's head of military procurement, Patrick Finn, said the government is trying to strike the right balance between military and economic priorities when it comes to the fighter-jet competition.
"The feedback we're seeing from some suppliers some are quite content, some would like to see some more flexibility in other areas," he said.
"So it's making all of that work, respecting (companies') strengths, keeping everybody in the competition and doing it in a way that brings the right capability to the air force for decades to come."
—Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
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The Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence, will welcome Germany’s Minister of Defence, Boris Pistorius, to Canada for a bilateral meeting.
February 12, 2018 | Local, Aerospace
Senior defence official says Canada will take used Aussie FA-18s as they become available It will be 2022 before the Royal Canadian Air Force receives all of the used Australian fighter jets the Liberal government intends to purchase, says senior defence official. The plan was rolled out with much fanfare at the end of last year because the air force has faced — in the words of Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan — an "urgent capability gap" and is not able to meet its NATO and Norad commitments at the same time. Pat Finn, who is in charge of the materiale branch of National Defence, told CBC News in a recent interview a final agreement is still months away. He is confident, however, everything will come together. Delivery is "staggered over three years," Finn said. The Trudeau government announced in December it would buy 18 used Australian "classic" FA-18s as an interim measure to bolster the air force until the entire Canadian fleet of CF-18s is replaced, beginning in the mid-2020s. It had wanted to buy brand new Boeing Super Hornets, the newer, bigger, more advanced version of the FA-18 and CF-18. The plan was scuttled when the manufacturer, Chicago-based Boeing, filed a trade complaint against Canadian aerospace giant Bombardier. No price tag for the Australian deal was released at the time of the formal announcement, which was made by Sajjan and Public Works Minister Carla Qualtrough. Ongoing discussions Finn said those details are still being worked out. The Liberal government said in December the first used fighters, which were purchased by Australia around the same Canada bought its CF-18s, would arrive by January 2019. Finn said the delivery schedule is being finalized, but he anticipates receiving the first two warplanes by the summer of that year. Another one would follow by the end of the year, but much depends on the Royal Australian Air Force and how quickly it retires the fighters and the age of what's being offered. "They, of course, release aircraft as they get aircraft," Finn said. "We do not necessarily want the oldest aircraft, so we would like to have an ongoing discussion." He said there is some flexibility and if "summer '19 turns into" something a few months later because they can get a better jet, then it's something that can be negotiated. The Australian government is in the process of seeking permission to sell the planes because they were originally manufactured in the U.S. Once the Australian warplanes arrive in Canada, they will need to be given life-extension modifications that will bring them up to the standard of the CF-18s, which have been modified to continuing flying until 2025. It stands in stark contrast to the urgency with which the Liberals initially painted the shortage of fighter aircraft. "In 2025, the CF-18s will not be able to fly, and it is important that we move very quickly in filling this capability gap." said Sajjan in June 2016. Finn said the air force is managing the capability gap by making more CF-18s available for operations on a daily basis. "We're basically working right now to increase the availability of our current airplanes," he said. Experts say that would mean pouring more than expected into the maintenance budget in order to keep fighters on the flight line. Urgent purchase? One defence analyst said the government has a strange definition of urgent. "Nothing about the handling of this file lines up with the identification of it as an urgent need, either the interim or the permanent purchase," said Dave Perry, an expert in procurement at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. He said he believes it will present a political headache for the Liberals come the next election. "The fact that this government may, at best, have a couple of second-hand aircraft before the next election after having identified an urgent need to acquire new fighter aircraft is just incredible," he said. When the Australian deal was announced, the government also laid out a timeline for the full replacement of the CF-18s, which were purchased in the 1980s, but extensively modified and upgraded in the early 2000s. Public Works recently held a consultation day with defence contractors, but Perry says no one seems to understand why it will take until the early 2020s to launch the competition. When the former Conservative government was struggling over whether to buy the F-35 stealth fighter, it conducted extensive research on the alternatives and possible types of warplanes Canada would need. That research, which conceivable could move things along faster, was largely discarded by the Liberals and is gathering dust on a shelf, Perry says. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/aussie-fighter-jets-1.4530875
March 16, 2021 | Local, C4ISR, Security
Canada would benefit from the establishment of more authoritative co-ordination in medium-to-long term strategic national security policy. The role of the national security and intelligence advisor (NSIA) to the prime minister is well-situated to provide this function due to the office’s visibility and up-to-date awareness of cross-cutting national security issues facing Canada. By making this […]