Did Ottawa pay too much for $7B fighter jet deal? Experts say it’s not that simple – National | 24CA News
Experts are warning in opposition to drawing conclusions on whether or not Canada is getting a very good deal for the F-35, given the big startup prices related to shopping for and fielding a brand new fighter jet, which embody much-needed upgrades to the Air Force’s bodily and digital infrastructure.
While a proper announcement has not been made, The Canadian Press reported on Tuesday that the Department of National Defence has obtained authorization to spend $7 billion on an preliminary set of 16 F-35s and related gear.
While that works out to about $450 million per airplane, which is about 4 instances greater than the publicly reported value of the plane, the full contains weapons and spare elements, new services to deal with and preserve the fighter jets and upgrades to the army’s laptop networks.
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Experts say these infrastructure and community upgrades are crucial given the state of the Air Force’s present services and the superior nature of the F-35 in comparison with the CF-18s, they usually nearly actually account for many of the $7 billion.
“What’s occurred here is they basically front-loaded every single cost that wasn’t related to the acquisition of the aircraft,” stated F-35 skilled Richard Shimooka of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. “Hangars, labs and support equipment. They’ll probably buy all of the terminals and support equipment right off the bat.”
The Liberal authorities has repeatedly promised to purchase a complete of 88 new fighters to exchange Canada’s growing old CF-18s, which sources say will happen in batches.
The authorities has beforehand pegged the price of shopping for the fleet at $19 billion. But Defence Minister Anita Anand confirmed earlier this 12 months that determine was being “refined,” and it has not been clear what that determine does — and doesn’t — embody.
Many of the questions on the price of Canada’s plan have revolved round an announcement final week that Germany has inked a US$8.4-billion deal to purchase 35 F-35s and related weapons, spare elements and help companies from the United States. That works out to about C$11.4 billion, or $325 million per airplane.
“The reported cost of this purchase, for only 16 jets, is outrageous,” NDP defence critic Lindsay Mathyssen stated in an announcement on Wednesday.
“Earlier this year, the government intended to purchase 88 fighter jets for $18 billion. Clearly today’s news suggests the government is not interested in getting the best value and is leaving Canadians on the hook to pay for their bad decisions.”
But Shimooka stated Canada will find yourself paying much less per airplane than Germany, as a result of it’s considered one of eight companion nations which were paying for the F-35’s growth prices since 1997. Germany just isn’t a companion nation and is buying the airplane from the U.S. by way of a special mechanism.
“So Germany’s not a great comparison,” he stated.
Rather, he suspected that Canada, as a companion, pays the identical quantity per airplane because the United States. While that determine bounces round from 12 months to 12 months as Washington negotiates future manufacturing schedules with F-35 maker Lockheed Martin, the present fly-away value is about $105 million per airplane.
A report printed by the Defence Department in August 2013 laid out the anticipated prices related to changing Canada’s CF-18s with F-35s. These included simulators, floor help gear, restore services, a reprogramming lab and upgrades to varied bases and airfields throughout the nation.
Carleton University professor Philippe Lagasse, who beforehand served on an impartial panel charged with assessing army procurements, stated it’s clear the $7 billion contains greater than merely 16 F-35s.
“So you can’t just divide 16 by $7 billion,” he stated. “We already know that involves infrastructure and involves upgrades, involves weapons systems. So there’s a lot bundling. And until we get the details, nobody can comment on what this involves in terms of per-unit cost.”
Retired lieutenant-general Andre Deschamps, who beforehand served as commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, stated the federal government would wish to spend cash to improve the nation’s fighter jet bases in Cold Lake, Alta., and Bagotville, Que., it doesn’t matter what plane it ended up shopping for.
“These are 1950s hangars that we built in Cold Lake and we built in Bagotville,” stated Deschamps, who now works for Ottawa-based CFN Consultants, a lobbying agency whose prospects embody Lockheed Martin. “So there’s a major investment required no matter what fleet we buy.”
The Defence Department had began planning to improve its fighter bases by awarding two contracts in 2020 to start design work on new hangars. However, as a result of the federal government had not but dedicated to the F-35, that work was very generalized.
Deschamps stated the necessities for the F-35 will likely be particularly superior given the character of the plane. It will imply not solely enhancing the bodily services in Cold Lake, Bagotville and different locations the place they may function, but additionally upgrading the army’s info techniques.
“There’s a lot of costs in physical and digital infrastructure,” he stated. “So that’s billions of dollars to do all the bases, forward-operating locations, deployed operating locations. Anywhere these fighters go, you’re going to have to have an improved footprint so they can operate from those locations.”
© 2022 The Canadian Press
