2ND TIME AROUND ON RADAR PROJECT

Contract goes to firm that failed to finish first one

The Liberal government has awarded a contract for new military radars to a firm that couldn't complete the same project six years ago, but this time the deal is worth more than three times the original amount.

Thales Canada, which has facilities in Nepean, will receive $186 million to supply and maintain the tactical radars used for CF-18 fighter jet operations. Thales was originally selected in 2011 to provide the radars for $55 million, but in 2015 that project collapsed and the deal was terminated.

Public Services and Procurement Canada has refused to provide details on why the original project had to be shut down and how much the failed purchase ultimately cost taxpayers.

But this time Public Services and Procurement Canada has awarded Thales an even more lucrative deal. Instead of two radars, it will deliver three such systems in a contract estimated at $154 million. The company has also been awarded a $32-million contract to provide support for the radars over a five-year period. The PSPC news release on the deal, which highlights jobs that will be created by the new contract, does not mention the previous failed project.

The new radars are to be used by the Royal Canadian Air Force to detect, identify and direct fighter jet interceptors to potential threats in North America's aerospace. The equipment can also be used for overseas missions and training.

PSPC spokesman Jeremy Link noted in an email that the radar being purchased this time around was different than the system that was proposed by Thales for its earlier contract.

“These new radars are a proven system and are already being used throughout the world by our allies,” Link stated. “A part of the evaluation process, Canada conducted a successful live demonstration of the radars to ensure they met the operational requirements of the Canadian Armed Forces.”

Thales, asked for comment on why it thought it would be successful in completing the contract the second time, noted in an email that it won the deal through a fair competition.

The radars to be provided by Thales Canada this time will be manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The radars from the first failed project were from Thales and Raytheon.

It's not clear how much taxpayers had to pay for the derailed 2015 project, but heavily censored Department of National Defence documents indicate at least $6.5 million had been spent before the initiative was shut down. PSPC had previously told this newspaper that the government and Thales reached an agreement to terminate the first contract by “mutual consent.”

At the time of the original contract announcement, Thales noted that its award built on its “40-year track record of providing worldclass sensor systems to the Canadian Forces.”

With the 2021 contract, Thales noted that it has “over 25 years of successful defence program management experience in the air, naval and

ALREADY BEING USED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD BY

OUR ALLIES.

ground domains, (and) this system will provide the Royal Canadian Air Force with accurate detection against a vast array of modern-day threats while maintaining a high level of mobility.”

Two of the radars will replace the existing ones located at 4 Wing Cold Lake in Alberta and 3 Wing Bagotville in Quebec, and the third will be used as needed, based on Canadian military operational requirements. First deliveries of the new radars are expected to begin in 2023, according to the federal government.

The radar project has had a troubled history. The DND originally estimated the systems would cost $39 million and would be delivered in 2007, but the competition for the project was delayed.

In 2011 Thales won the contract for $55 million and was supposed to deliver the radars in February 2013. But by that year the costs of the project had risen to $78 million, prompting the federal government and Thales to negotiate an end to the contract in 2015.

Earlier this year in a report to Parliament, the DND boasted that military equipment procurement was not only well managed, but all programs were within budget and on schedule.