USAF to Take 136 F-18s Out of Service; But Don't Count on Any for Canada

By: David Pugliese, Defence Watch 

The U.S. Navy is removing from service 136 of its older F-18s. That has immediately prompted suggestions in some parts of the Canadian defence community that the aircraft could be used to bolster Canada’s aging CF-18 fleet.

But don’t count on that happening.

The USN is hoping to provide the U.S. Marines with the best of the surplus aircraft to bolster the Marines’ fighter capability. And then it intends to use the others for spare parts for its F-18s still operating. The 136 aircraft will be removed from service between now and 2020.

Canadian defence sources say discussions between Canada and Australia for the purchase of 18 surplus F-18s are moving smoothly along. There is no need to look at U.S. surplus aircraft even if the USN was interested in providing them to Canada, they added.

CF-18 Life-Extension To Cost at Least $1.5 Billion

By: David Pugliese, The National Post 

Canadians could be paying more than $1.5 billion extra as the operating life of the military’s aging CF-18 fighter jets is extended for another 14 years.

CF-18 Hornet fighter jets takes off from 4 Wing Cold Lake.Trevor Robb/Postmedia/File

The jets were to be taken out of service after 2025, but as Postmedia recently reported, delays in the Liberal government’s plan to buy replacements means the jets will need to continue operating until 2032. While the Department of National Defence says it still has yet to figure out how much that will cost, a December 2014 report produced by DND and the Canadian Forces raised concerns about further extending the life of the CF-18s.

“Rough order of magnitude incremental costs for an Estimated Life Expectancy of 2030 are just over $1.5 billion and are primarily due to the requirement for a new structural life extension program needed to enable the CF-18 to be flown beyond its current safe life,” said the report, which was prepared for the previous Conservative government.

That roughly $1.5 billion would be on top of the $500 million the Liberal government has set aside to buy 18 used Australian F-18s as a stop-gap until it can acquire new planes.

Some savings could be found from the cost of extending the service of the CF-18s if the military reduces their flying hours, the report said.

The jets, first received in 1982, will be 50 years old when they are retired.

“The government has stated the need to invest further in the life extension and continued operation of the CF-18 fleet,” said DND spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier. “The cost will be known once investigations are complete.

“Life extension would occur under continuing in-service support using already proven engineering and maintenance processes,” he said.

During the 2015 election campaign the Liberals promised to immediately launch a competition to buy replacements for the CF-18s. Once elected, they instead decided to buy 18 Super Hornets from Boeing as a temporary measure, then scuttled that arrangement over a trade dispute between the U.S. aircraft manufacturer and Canadian aerospace firm Bombardier.

They have committed to buying 88 new fighter jets in a program that could cost as much as $19 billion, a price which does not include long-term maintenance. Troy Crosby, director general of defence major projects at Public Services and Procurement Canada, said that a request for proposals from companies for the new jets is expected to be issued in spring 2019, with a contract likely not signed until late 2021 or early 2022.

Canada’s CF-18 jets, first received in 1982, will be 50 years old when they are retired. Trevor Robb/Postmedia/File

The department said it is still evaluating information from various fighter jet companies and will at some point release a list of those firms approved to take part in the upcoming competition.

The first replacement aircraft for the CF-18s are expected to arrive in 2025 but the delivery of all 88 planes would not be completed until 2030, according to federal government documents distributed to industry representatives at a Jan. 22 meeting in Ottawa. The last CF-18s would then be retired in 2032.

Aerospace industry officials have privately said it would have made more sense to launch an immediate competition and fast-track the purchase of new aircraft instead of dumping money into keeping older jets airborne.

Over the last decade the Canadian Forces have investigated various options to replace the CF-18s, which have been upgraded over the years.

In 2001 a modernization project was launched to allow the planes to continue operating until 2017-2020. Structural improvements to maintain the fleet have been ongoing and another upgrade program is in the works to keep the planes flying until 2025, according to the RCAF.

That will provide the planes with various systems to allow them to operate with allied air forces as well as meet new rules to fly in domestic and international airspace, and could potentially involve upgrades to weapons.

It is unclear how extensive another upgrade beyond that would need to be to keep the planes flying from 2025 to 2032.

GoC Restricts Fighter Jet Purchase Information

By: David Pugliese, National Post

Capt. Denis Beaulieu flies the CF-18 upside down at the Wings Over Springbank air show at Springbank Airport west of Calgary, Ab., on Saturday July 18, 2015.Mike Drew/Calgary Sun/Postmedia Network

The federal government says it needs to tightly control the type of information being circulated about its $19-billion fighter jet replacement program because it knows best what the public should be told.

In early February, Postmedia revealed that companies interested in the government’s planned purchase of new fighter jets were warned not to talk to journalists. That came in advance of a Jan. 22 industry day to discuss the basic details of the jet purchase.

Public Services and Procurement Canada, which is co-ordinating the project, confirmed that the media blackout for companies was in place but defends that as necessary.

“As fighter aircraft and their component systems are sensitive, heavily controlled goods, it is also critical that (government) procurement officials remain the definitive source of publicly shared information, to ensure the integrity of the overall process,” the department noted in an email to Postmedia.

Procurement Canada also noted that the same rules will apply throughout this year and next as meetings are held with various companies on the jet deal. Such meetings “will require sharing extensive amounts of information, including sensitive technical data” that needs to be protected, the department added.

A CF18 Hornet prepares to resume its activities after being refuelled by a CC150 Polaris during Operation Impact, on February 4, 2015. Photo: Canadian Forces Combat Camera, DND

But sources who leaked details of the industry day meeting and the department’s plan to limit information to the news media, scoffed at government claims about the need to protect sensitive information. Industry executives often talk to journalists about government bungling of military procurements, not about the secret details of their respective products, sources pointed out.

They predicted that the media blackout won’t stop details about problems associated with the jet program from leaking out.

Public Services and Procurement Canada noted it is “committed to provide regular updates” to the public and media as the jet project proceeds.

The Liberal government’s quest to buy new fighter jets has been controversial from the beginning, with mixed signals and bungled deals.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau originally said his government wouldn’t buy the F-35 stealth fighter, later claiming it didn’t work. The government then reversed course, pointing out that F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin was welcome to offer their plane to Canada in any competition.

In 2016, the Liberals launched a plan to buy new Super Hornet jets from Boeing as an interim measure, only to scuttle that deal a year later because of a trade war involving the U.S. firm.

Instead, the government says it will now buy used F-18 jets from Australia. But that purchase is already running into delays.

Pat Finn, the Department of National Defence’s assistant deputy minister of materiel, told the Commons defence committee in February that Canada is looking for delivery of the used aircraft in the summer of 2019. The Liberal government originally planned for the arrival of the first used aircraft in January 2019.

The purchase of new jets, which will eventually replace all of Canada’s CF-18s as well as the used aircraft acquired from Australia, will unfold over the next 14 years. Some of those who attended the industry day in January noted that the purchase, which would see a contract awarded in 2021 or 2022, seems drawn out, considering federal procurement officials have been involved in trying to buy a new jet since 2010.

The restrictions on what industry can say about the jet project is not the first attempt by the Liberals to crack down on what information might make its way to the public or news media about the multi-billion-dollar program.


As fighter aircraft and their component systems are sensitive, heavily controlled goods, it is also critical that (government) procurement officials remain the definitive source of publicly shared information

In November 2016, it was revealed the government brought in an unprecedented gag order that prevents 235 military personnel and federal workers from ever talking about the program. The non-disclosure agreement for the equipment project puts the fighter jet replacement on the same level as top secret counter-terrorism missions undertaken by the Joint Task Force 2 commando unit, as well as clandestine operations by the country’s spies, military sources say.

The permanent non-disclosure agreements were at the time uncovered by Conservative defence critic James Bezan after he requested information through the House of Commons “inquiry of ministry” process.

The DND claimed that such agreements have been used with procurement staff before on occasion.

But Alan Williams, the former assistant deputy minister for materiel at the DND, has said that he had never heard of such agreements.

dpugliese@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/davidpugliese

Full Operational Capability of Canada’s New Fighter Jets Won’t Happen until 2031

By Tim Naumetz, iPolitics

The planned government acquisition of a new fleet of 88 fighter jets will not be completed with full operational capability until 2031 – 14 years after defence and procurement officials launched the project last December.

A timetable for the acquisition that was shared with aerospace industry representatives at an industry event on Jan. 22 confirms there will be at least four years of information exchanges with potential suppliers and contract bidders before a contract award in either 2021 or 2022.

Following another two-years set-up phase for aspects involving infrastructure, future maintenance, facility development, operations and “initial cadre training” at the “host nation” producing the aircraft, the first aircraft delivery is scheduled for 2025.

After that, another six years are slated for gradual acquisition of the fleet and pilot training, with an acquisition average of at least 12 jets each year and “steady state full operational capacity” in 2031.

By then, three federal elections will have been held since the project’s launch in December 2017.

2031 is also the year the timetable projects for the retirement of what remains of Canada’s legacy fleet of CF-18 hornets – already upgraded and modernized several times since their acquisition under the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the 1980s.

A military expert says the time frame would be routine for a project of similar scope and complexity, but the CF-18 replacement project has been in the works since at least 2007.

“If you’re looking at a project of that degree and complexity, from a genuine start point 14 years is probably not at all out of the ordinary,” said David Perry, senior analyst and a vice-president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

“But the thing is, this file did not start on December 12. The previous government did an exhaustive review of options. The clock on this starts at least a decade ago,”

All of the aircraft from five different companies in Europe and the United States who have been invited to compete underwent a thorough market analysis under the Conservatives. The Harper government suspended its plan to acquire 65 Lockheed-Martin F-35 warplanes following a raging controversy after the 2011 federal election.

“All timelines are estimated and subject to change,” the briefing document said, a copy of which was obtained by iPolitics.

National Defence and Procurement Canada officials at the project’s launch last Dec. 12 said the acquisition is expected to cost between $15 billion and $19 billion, not counting infrastructure, training, other development aspects and sustainment through the fleet’s lifetime.

The estimate works out to an expected cost of between $170 million and $216 million per fighter jet with a fleet of 88.

Boeing Skips Industry Day in CF-18 Replacement

SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM
BY: STEPHEN TRIMBLE
WASHINGTON DC

Boeing has yet to decide whether to compete for a contract worth $12-14.5 billion to replace Canada’s tactical fighter fleet. The airframer once had the deal in its pocket before Ottawa terminated plans to buy the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet after Boeing filed a trade complaint against Bombardier last May.

In a possible sign that the company could forego submitting a bid, Boeing chose to skip a one-day information session for potential bidders on 22 January that was hosted by Canadian agency managing the Future Fighter Capability acquisition programme.

Boeing confirmed the absence and says it remains convinced that the Super Hornet is the best option for the Royal Canadian Air Force, although the airframer has not decided whether to offer the aircraft yet.

“We continue to believe that the Super Hornet is the low-risk, low-cost approach that has all the advanced capabilities the Royal Canadian Air Force needs now and well into the future,” Boeing says.

“We will evaluate our participation in Canada’s Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP) after the Government of Canada outlines the FFCP procurement approach, requirements and evaluation criteria,” Boeing adds.

US government officials attended the information session hosted by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the Canadian government’s acquisition arm, Boeing says.

Boeing may face a deadline in two weeks to make a decision. Attendance at the information session was not mandatory, but PSPC has requested that all potential bidders respond by 9 February to an invitation to join a Suppliers List. Only companies that respond to the invitation will be informed and allowed to participate in all future steps of the FFCP acquisition process, the PSPC says.

The indecision by Boeing reflects a staggering turn-around in the company’s fortunes in Ottawa since last year. In his victorious 2015 election campaign, now-prime minister Justin Trudeau promised to cancel the previous government’s plans to buy the Lockheed Martin F-35A without first staging a competition. A year later, the Trudeau government announced plans to acquire 24 new F/A-18E/Fs as an interim replacement for the CF-18, until a competition selected a permanent solution after 2020.

But those plans changed last May after Boeing filed an anti-dumping and countervailing duty complaint against Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier over an April 16 sale to Delta Air Lines of 75 CS100s. The US Commerce Department agreed with Boeing’s position and set a nearly 300% tariff on CSeries imports to the USA. The final outcome of the case now depends on a vote by the US International Trade Commission on 25 January, which will decide whether the Delta order caused financial harm to Boeing and, if so, ratify the tariff.

Meanwhile, the Trudeau government scrapped the plan to buy Super Hornets last summer. The RCAF instead plans to buy retired F/A-18s from the Royal Australian Air Force as an interim CF-18 replacement.