Harper government's confusion over F-35 acquisition

Canada still has some issues about their future air power depending on the F-35.

This article  from iPolitics takes a stab at the problem but misses a few things.

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In order for the Harper government to get their dream price on the F-35 there has to be some realism added to the discussion. Note to the DND: best to invest in real independent aero-engineers and not label Powerpoint from the seller of the aircraft as your own "analysis". Or in other words; don't go native to the vendor.

Harper's crew claimed $65m per aircraft (Lockheed Martin talking points that the U.S. DOD F-35 project office winces at because it is misleading), then fudged it with a slightly higher number for good measure, even if that slightly higher number is nowhere close to the truth.

Yet consider this. The largest alleged buyer of the F-35, the U.S. Air Force, have already stated in their budget documents, acquisition prices for the jet that are higher. This color of U.S. taxpayer money does not include research and development or engineering change costs.

There is no truth to the $65M price per jet simply because there is no proof that thousands of the aircraft will be made. The F-35 is under-tested with more discovery of problems in the future a certainty. There is no way the year 2016 can be named as a "peak production" era of the aircraft--as a benefit of the best time to buy to get a great price--in the way the Harper crew states. 2016 could possibly be "peak production", but it won't be the good kind of peak production.

Since the business plan that backs up the F-35 has failed (lots made=low price...forgetting that it is complex) what we have is the most incompetent defence procurement to hit Canada since the sub debacle or a conspiracy to defraud the taxpayer.

Finally, If I were a potential customer of this high-risk project, I would not go on record stating the sat-com problem will be fixed. There are still many systems in the aircraft that have not been certified by having a complete and tested go-to-war aircraft in-hand. Networking and coms are not trivial issues with stealth aircraft simply because you can't put a hole in the skin (aperture) for an antenna or sensor anywhere you want and call it stealthy. And, with over 3 times the software code of an F-22, there is still so very much work to do.

The Canadian taxpayer should worry about the ability of the government to manage the replacement of the CF-18 fighter.