Canadian-Italian aerospace group jockeys to replace aging aircraft

RCAF has a number of suitors for its search-and-rescue fleet plan

One of the groups vying to replace the search-and-rescue fleet of the Royal Canadian Air Force said during a visit to B.C. that they are expecting a decision from Ottawa this fall.

Team Spartan, spearheaded by Italian plane manufacturer Leonardo Aircraft and Canadian aerospace firm General Dynamics Mission Systems, was on-hand at the 2016 Aerospace, Defence and Security Expo in Abbotsford last week.

Steve Lucas, spokesman of Team Spartan, said the Canadian Air Force sent a number of test pilots to Italy and Spain since the group submitted its bid in January, adding that officials feel the test went as well as it could have.

“In fact, I don’t think it could have gone any better,” said Lucas, speaking during an appearance in Abbotsford. “The weather was great. We know we have an excellent aircraft. We know it handles very well, and everything came together, and I believe it will back up everything we said in our proposal.”

Team Spartan, along with aerospace giant Airbus and Brazilian counterpart Embraer, are bidding to replace the RCAF’s aging searchand-rescue fleet. Lucas, who was joined by officials from Leonardo, said the group came to the B.C. aerospace show — one of the largest of its kind in Canada — both to seek possible partners to fill out the bid, as well as to raise awareness among the public.

“There’s great visibility of this in Ottawa, but there’s much less in the rest of the country,” Lucas said. “We think that’s important. We think Canadians want to know. Ottawa is very important, but when we have an opportunity to talk about this in B.C., we take it.”

In June, Team Spartan said it will locate a training centre in Comox as part of its bid, which prompted Airbus to also confirm it is looking at a similar plan if it were to win the bid. In a statement, Airbus Defence and Space Canada’s pres- ident Simon Jacques declined to comment on the expected timeline of approval (citing the ongoing bid-evaluation process), but noted it remains confident in its bid, which also involves a number of Canadian partners.

“We can say that we believe that things are moving smoothly from our perspective,” Jacques said.

Team Spartan has emphasized its bid’s “Canadianization” as a key strength, saying a large portion of the contract would remain in Canada if its bid were to win out — due to a large number of Canadian companies taking part, including B.C. players such as KF Aerospace.

There’s great visibility of this in Ottawa, but there’s much less in the rest of the country. We think that’s important.