According to their associate defence minister Fantino, the total procurement must not exceed the $9B plan.
Back in 2010, Canada stated they would purchase their jets during the 2016 time-frame as this would be "peak-production" and thus best value.
Economies of scale and all that.
Today, Canada has stated that the 2017-2023 years could be the time of best purchase value.
This means that there is a good chance the existing CF-18s will be on severe flight restriction to make it that far. Then again, Canada has a pilot shortage and the ones that are around only get about 180 hours per year.
It seems over-all, the fighter business is just too expensive for Canada if they stick to the current path.
Next month, the Auditor General will release a report stating that the DND mislead Parliament over the F-35 decision. Not a hard leap to make given other procurement decisions.
DND claims the F-35 is the only aircraft to meet the requirement as a CF-18 replacement.
Not a surprise when you select the aircraft based on Lockheed Martin talking points and write up the defence requirement after-the-fact.
Maybe, by 2020, an intelligent purchaser of aircraft will have a thoroughly tested, go-to-war example of an F-35 to contemplate.
Maybe.
By then, it will have been obsolete to the high-end threats for at least 5 years. IOC: 7 years. FOC: 10 years.
For any other mission; existing technology does it better; cheaper.
Maybe by 2020, Canada will have something much more valuable: a reformed defence procurement policy.
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