Cost of jets up in the air

Photo: The Canadian Press

The federal government unveiled its interim steps Tuesday in the long-fraught effort to replace Canada's aging fleet of fighter jets, but key questions - how much it would cost taxpayers and the impact on the military -- remained up in the air.

Following a closed-door cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill, three Liberal cabinet ministers held a news conference to announce plans to enter into discussions with U.S. aerospace giant Boeing to purchase 18 Super Hornet jets.

At the same time, however, the government intends to launch an open competition starting next year to replace all 77 of the air force's CF-18s - a process that's expected to last up to five years.

The ministers described buying the 18 Super Hornets as a necessary stop-gap to ensure Canada has enough planes to fill a so-called "capability gap" - enabling it to both fulfil its NATO obligations and to defend North American interests.

"We need additional planes as soon as possible for an interim period," said Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, flanked by Public Procurement Minister Judy Foote and Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains.

"Having a new squadron of interim aircraft will mitigate those risks significantly as we address the capability gap."

The Hornet, the ministers said, is both compatible with the U.S. and currently operational - the unspoken implication being that the F-35 remains in development, even though the U.S. Air Force declared it operational in the summer.

And even as they repeatedly highlighted the urgent need for new planes, the ministers refused to say much the government expects the Super Hornets to cost to buy and operate.

During last year's election campaign, the Liberals pegged the cost of a single F-35 - the vaunted and controversial stealth fighter favoured by the previous Conservative government - at $175 million, compared with $65 million for one Super Hornet.

But Kuwait recently announced plans to buy 40 Super Hornets for $13 billion. Even with eight of them specially equipped for electronic warfare, that still works out to $335 million per plane.

At the same time, Denmark is moving ahead with plans to buy 27 F-35s at a cost of $4 billion, which amounts to about $148 million per plane.