Royal Canadian Air Force buys 65 JSF!!

[Arjan]

According to newsagencies the RCAF will receive 65 JSF aircraft from 2016 on!

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/arti ... -jets?bn=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Published On Fri Jul 16 2010

An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet is displayed at a government announcement in Ottawa that it will proceed with a sole-sourced contract for 65 of the jets.

BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH/TORONTO STAR

Ignatieff vows to review contract

Canada commits millions

Richard J. Brennan

OTTAWA—The Conservative government made official Friday that Canada is buying 65 new F-35 fighter jets.

The price tag for just the planes and associated costs, according to a government release, is $9 billion.
That doesn’t include maintenance costs, which some experts and critics say will drive the price tag up to $16 billion.

“The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the best aircraft we can provide our men and women in uniform to face and defeat the challenges of the 21st century,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement.

MacKay said the single-engine Lockheed Martin fighter will “help ... defend the sovereignty of the Canadian airspace” and assist Canada in living up to its NATO commitments.

Delivery of the first fighters is scheduled for 2016.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said this week a Liberal government would put the decision on hold in order to open the procurement process to other bidders.

The biggest debate around the F-35 right now is being waged with military writers and others who say a big minus for the jet is the fact it has only one engine — unlike the CF-18 — leaving it vulnerable if engine trouble occurs.

Liberal MP Marc Garneau, an astronaut and systems engineer, told reporters the Harper government has to justify this sole-sourced contract, arguing there is no rush for these jets since the CF-18s have been retrofitted and are good for another seven years.

The Joint Strike Fighter program is being funded by the United States, Canada, Turkey, Britain, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Australia and the Netherlands.
Canada has invested $160 million so far in development of the F-35, and Canadian companies have received $350 million in contracts, according to reports.

MacKay had said there would be a competitive process for the selection of new planes, but the Tory cabinet decided to go with an untendered contract.

[Antilliaan]

Please change the subject line: the RCAF ceased to exist in 1968!
Canadian Forces it should read.

[Le Addeur noir]

Hopefully the Canadian Armed Forces will be re-named with Royal prefixes again.

Long live The Queen!.