UPDATE 3-Canada to buy 65 F-35 jet fighters in C$9 bln deal
* First planes to be delivered in 2016
* Opposition says will freeze deal if it takes power
* Stories of huge maintenance contract untrue, says Ottawa (Adds industry, opposition reaction)
OTTAWA, July 16 (Reuters) - Canada will buy 65 new fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) for C$9 billion ($8.6 billion), one of the biggest arms deals in the nation's history, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Friday.
The first Joint Strike Fighter should be delivered in 2016. The F-35s will replace Canada's CF-18s, which are due to reach the end of their working lives in about 2020.
MacKay brushed off criticism from opposition legislators who say the planes are too expensive and who question why Lockheed Martin received a sole-source contract.
"This is the best aircraft we can provide our men and women in uniform ... This is one of the largest defense procurement projects in Canadian history," MacKay told a news conference.
The C$9 billion also covers weapons, training and equipment. MacKay said media reports of a separate C$7 billion 20-year maintenance deal were wrong and said an agreement would be concluded once the jets started going into production.
The Joint Strike Fighter program is being funded by the United States, Canada, Turkey, Britain, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Australia and the Netherlands. Canada, which was involved from the start, says it has already spent C$168 million.
The JSF is set to be the world's costliest arms acquisition program. The United States alone is scheduled to buy 2,443 of the planes for more than $300 billion.
Industry Minister Tony Clement said Canadian companies would be able to bid for business for all the planes, not just the ones Ottawa will buy.
Don Boitson, vice-president and general manager at Magellan Aerospace Corp (MAL.TO), said the deal should be worth more than C$1 billion to his firm over the life of the program.
"The announcement today gives Canadian companies like ourselves and the other 85 (firms) the opportunity to produce parts, and we have been and will continue for all 3,000 aircraft that are currently on order," he told Reuters.
The opposition Liberal Party promises to freeze the deal if it takes power. But polls show it trails the ruling Conservatives and would have little chance of winning an election now.
In a statement, the left-leaning New Democrats said "there needs to be accountability and some justification for spending this amount of money and we have not seen that".
MacKay dismissed the criticism, saying Lockheed Martin had won an open competition in 2001 to supply the JSF -- a time when Canada's previous Liberal government was in power and already helping to fund the project.
"I am questioning the hypocrisy which seems to soar higher than this aircraft in now criticizing purchasing the very plane that the previous government signaled ... very early on, that they were going to do," he said.
But a former top Canadian defense official involved in the decision to help fund the JSF said Ottawa's development role did not automatically mean Canada had to buy the plane.
"If you sole-source, everybody loses," said Alan Williams, estimating Conservatives had effectively sole-sourced almost C$40 billion worth of defense contracts in recent years.
"We're supposed to buy a product that best meets the military's needs. How do you know that without doing a rigorous comparison? ... Just because we took part in a program does not mean that it's the best one for us," he told Reuters.
($1=$1.05 Canadian) (Additional reporting by Susan Taylor and John McCrank; editing by Rob Wilson)
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According to the official Canadian Air Force site http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/v2/equip/hst/arrow-eng.asp the CF-105 is what the CAF really wants. They wrote “The Arrow was a very clean design and many of its features were copied on other North American-made fighters, including today’s F-22 Raptor.”
The meaning is clear. They do not want the F-35, which is a single engine economy version of an F-22, nor do they want the F-22 which is copied from the Arrow. Apparently, what they desire more than anything else, is the original super aircraft the incomparable CF-105 Arrow. [Since the Arrow’s development is already paid for it would probably be the least expensive solution as well.]
The voices of the CAF should be heard.
Isn’t it time to stop blaming and justifying your opponent’s bad mistakes and judgements? Who’s the irresponsible government now, the Liberals or the ruling PC government?
It was also copied and it tech was used in many other aircraft to date. HOWEVER, it was a 1950’s design and was killed off in 1959. The CAF does NOT want the Arrow, as it not longer exsists, nor does 99.9 of the information about it. The CAF historically has wanted 2 engine a/c, mostly for safety reasons, as Canada tends to be rather expansive :-) & air bases cover a huge teritorry. However, todays aircraft are 20-30 times that of even the our 1980’s vintage Hornets, that is probably no longer a valid requirement. The F35 is perhaps, currently world’s best a/c, is it right for the CAF? How about we let them decide.
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