Halifax International Security Forum is this weekend

Speaking at the Security Forum on the subject of the troubled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter procurement program, Peter Mackay said:

“All of the hypothetical discussions and quite negative discussions about (the F-35) are really just clatter and noise. This program is going ahead.”

He’s putting up a brave front, but the F-35 program is under fire in the U.S. from a variety of quarters. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who shared the stage with Mackay here in Halifax and who remains confident that his government won’t cut the program, doesn’t have a lot of say in the matter. Unlike here in Canada, it is the elected members in the House of Representatives and the Senate who have the power to decide whether program funding is cut or not, and they are in a budget cutting mood. The F-35 program is a prime target for both Republican and Democratic budget cutters because of ongoing delays and cost overruns. Some of the military services in the U.S. are pulling back from the F-35 because the cost of airframes will severely limit how many they can buy. The British have already cut their order in half – mostly due to canceling one of two planned aircraft carriers. They are now planning on buying fewer F-35s than Canada is planning.

It goes without saying that the Conservative government’s commitment to the F-35 program is flawed and financially irresponsible. To maintain (as they still do) that these fighters are going to cost the Canadian taxpayer approximately $75 million each is a bald-faced lie. Aviation industry analysts as well as the Pentagon’s Chief procurement officer have pegged the real cost at more than twice that amount. Some in the Conservative government insist that Canada is buying cheaper versions. This is just more smoke and mirrors. None of the governments who have participated to this point in time have been given a final contracted price for these aircraft – either cheap versions or ‘deluxe’ models.

I find it odd that Conservative M.P. Laurie Hawn, Parliamentary Secretary to Defense Minister Peter Mackay and retired Lieutenant Colonel and fighter pilot with the Canadian Forces Air Command, should be such a staunch supporter of the F-35. The last time Canada made a large purchase of fighter aircraft, Hawn played a prominent role in the selection of the CF-18 Hornet. Back then, he insisted that, due to Canada’s far-flung and remote geography, any fighter aircraft flown by the Canadian Forces must have two engines. It is simply not true to suggest, as some have, that turbine engines are more reliable now than they were thirty years ago and so the number of engines isn’t an issue. It is exactly the same issue now as it was then.

In addition to all of this, there hasn’t been a proper assessment of just what kind of fighter aircraft would meet Canada’s needs.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a fifth gen stealth fighter, is seen in military circles as a “first strike” weapon. This is the kind of aircraft you deploy prior to mounting an invasion of a country like Iraq, for example. It is not the kind of fighter you need to provide close air support to Canadian combat troops or to perform sovereignty patrols in the Arctic or many of the other roles that Canada’s military envisions.

Peter Mackay often says there is no other fifth generation stealth fighter out there for Canada to buy. He sidesteps the question of whether Canada needs or can afford the F-35. A much better fit for Canada’s air force would be the F/A-18E Super Hornet. It is a derivative of the aircraft currently serving in the Canadian air force but the new version is far more advanced. While not a true fifth gen stealth fighter, the Super Hornet incorporates a lot of stealth technology, in addition to the latest improvements in weapons systems and on-board computer technology. The Super Hornet also has the advantages that it is currently in production and in service with air forces around the world, it can be bought for roughly $50 million per airframe (as opposed to a figure that will likely be three times that for the F-35) and because of its relative similarity to Canada’s current F-18 fleet, it would cost far less to deploy to CAF squadrons.

Peter Mackay and the rest of the Conservative government are wrong to defend the F-35 procurement program. Their commitment to this expensive program is just one more example (like Tony Clement’s $50 million gazebo program) of how the Conservatives talk about fiscal responsibility but fail to deliver.

Peter Mackay, who never seems to miss the chance to don a flak vest and battle fatigues and pose with all kinds of military hardware, obviously has a bad case of “fighter envy” when it comes to the F-35.