Bulgaria, India are buying new jets
Unlike Canada, purchase won’t take 10 years
India and Bulgaria have launched competitions to buy new fighter jets, but unlike Canada they expect the process to take just a couple of years.
The speedy purchase of much-needed jets for those countries has raised questions about why it will take the Canadian government more than 10 years to replace the military’s aging fleet of CF-18s.
India announced Tuesday it expects to choose a supplier for 200 planes and sign a deal by 2020, with a request for bids going out in 2018. In December, Bulgaria announced it was seeking bids for up to eight jets, with more to follow. The winning bid for that program will be selected in 2018.
By contrast, the Liberal government expects it will take until the end of the 2020s — or perhaps even until 2032 — before it can acquire replacements for its CF-18s.
“There is no reason why any competition should take that long,” said Conservative Party defence critic James Bezan. “Most of the work is already done and the capabilities of various planes are already known,” he added, referring to the efforts by the Canadian military over the last seven years to examine potential replacement candidates.
But Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has said the lengthy period is needed ensure the proper choice is made.
In the meantime, the Liberals will first buy 18 Super Hornet jets that will be used to fill what they say is a fighter-jet capability gap. The government does not know when those planes will be purchased or ready for the flight line. The Liberals will meanwhile launch a competition to find a permanent replacement for the CF-18s. A choice is expected in the late 2020s, but Sajjan has said the CF-18s could be still flying in 2032.
Privately, however, military officers say there is no need to take more than a decade to determine what aircraft is best for Canada and purchase it.
Alan Williams, the former head of procurement for the Department of National Defence, has questioned why the Canadian government would first purchase Super Hornets for an “interim” role. He noted that Canadian procurement officials already have a significant amount of information on various fighter jets and a competition to acquire a permanent replacement for the CF-18s could probably be run over a one-year period.
Bezan pointed out that both Norway and Denmark selected new planes in a much shorter period. The Canadian process, he said, “is all about politics and the Liberal government.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has previously said his government would not buy the F-35 stealth fighter that the Conservatives wanted, claiming last year the F-35 was not working. But U.S. military units are now using the F-35s and Canadian government insiders concede there is concern in the Liberal ranks the plane could win the competition and be selected the best replacement for the CF-18s — a result that would be very embarrassing for Trudeau, they add.
Bulgaria, one of the European Union’s poorest countries, is looking at either buying second-hand Typhoons or F-16s, or new Gripen fighter jets.
It is expected that Lockheed Martin, which makes the F-35, will enter an upgraded version of its F-16 in the Indian competition while Saab of Sweden will pitch the Gripen.
Gripens and Typhoons are among the aircraft that Canada has looked at to replace the CF-18s.
Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the single-engine fighter jets would be built in India and the procurement process would be fast-tracked.