The youtube (which starts talking 32 seconds in) was uploaded in July 2018 from a Canadian perspective. Although
US-Canada relations have hit a slump, with Trump vowing to
punish Canadians over economic disputes, the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) correctly did not expect that to affect US approval of the Australian "Classic" F/A-18 Hornets to Canada deal.
---
Wiki
reports: “On 13
December 2017, Australian Minister for Defence Marise Payne confirmed the
sale of 18 [Classic] F/A-18 Hornets and associated spare parts to Canada.[113][114] The Canadian
Government announced at the same time that it had cancelled its plans to
acquire [Boeing] Super Hornets.
[The Canadian
government is buying the Australian “Classic” F/A-18 Hornets instead of a new
fleet of 18 Super Hornets, Canada was trying to force Boeing to
drop its trade dispute filed in 2016 by Boeing in the US International Trade Commission against Canada’s Bombardier Inc.]
[With US/Boeing approval the Australian Hornets are being] "acquired to enable the [Royal Canadian Air Force] to continue to meet its
international commitments until a new fighter type is ordered and enters
service.[115]
In June 2018
the Canadian Government requested a further seven Australian Hornets. These
additional aircraft will be used as a source of spare parts.[116][117]
Two Australian
Hornets are scheduled to be transferred to Canada in early 2019. The timeframe
for handing over the other aircraft will be dependent on progress with
introducing the F-35 into Australian service.[113]
The sale of the 25 Hornets was finalised in
early 2019, with the
purchase price being C$90 million.[118] [a very low
total price for 25 Hornets!?] Of these aircraft, 18 will be issued to
operational units and the remainder used for trials purposes and as a source of
spare parts. After they arrive in Canada, the aircraft will be fitted with
different ejection seats and software so that they are identical to CF-18s.[119]”
COMMENT
Its
interesting that Boeing is the company that:
- lost the 18 Super Hornet sale to
Canada, and
- built the Classic Hornets
that are being sold by Australia to Canada, and
- along with the US Government would have approved the sale of the Australian F/A-18s (full of US
intellectual property) to Canada.
So presumably Boeing is thinking in the long term. Boeing might still eventually sell Super Hornets to Canada. Or even if Canada finally decides to buy the F-35A, Boeing may still sell some EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft to Canada.
Australia has gone down the route of buying F-35As and EA-18Gs (partly to increase the stealth of the F-35As).
Pete
- along with the US Government would have approved the sale of the Australian F/A-18s (full of US
intellectual property) to Canada.
So presumably Boeing is thinking in the long term. Boeing might still eventually sell Super Hornets to Canada. Or even if Canada finally decides to buy the F-35A, Boeing may still sell some EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft to Canada.
Australia has gone down the route of buying F-35As and EA-18Gs (partly to increase the stealth of the F-35As).
Pete
4 comments:
Dear Pete
The point about used Canadian fighters from Australia is to buy no fighters from the US.
Boeing fielded a complaint against then Bombardier C-Series aircraft and the US put a 250% import tax on it. Airbus acquired 50.1% of C-Series for 1 Canadian Dollar. This aircraft is now the A220.
The F-35 is not a fast interceptor aircraft. The UK is going to replace the Tornadoes with F-35B. The Typhoon will still be the UK's interceptor.
Regards,
MHalblaub
Hi MHalblaub
Looks like the US's failure to sell Super Hornets to Canada is just one more symptom of Trump punishing his allies with trade barriers.
I see the UK has a plan to replace the Typhoon with the future UK (and maybe French) built "Tempest" stealth fighter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Tempest . But the Tempest might only be introduced in the late 2030s.
Regards
Pete
I doubt Boeing had much say in the sale. These were Australian owned not leased aircraft. I believe formal US permission was granted for the SH buy, so hard to say no to classic Hornet, especially as Canada already flies the same model.
The problem with purchasing E/A 18G is not the aircraft, but the jammer pods. I believe the current ones are no longer in production. New ones are in development in a joint US/Aus effort but nothing is yet available & won’t be for a number of years. I gather pods are swapped regularly from inactive to active aircraft. ie there are more aircraft than pods. This, I am told, is the reason Australia has not converted one of its pre-wired F/A 18F aircraft to E/A 18G configuration after the loss of one in a fire.
If I was Canada, I would be buying 88 SAAB Gripons & then approach Australia to buy its SH fleet to use as a dedicated strike fighter (which is what Australia is currently using it’s F/A 18F with strike console for). Australia is planning on selling it’s SH fleet once its 72 F35A come on board (provided the F35 lives up to expectation), with an expected order of 28 fighters, either more F35A or perhaps F35B (officially mentioned). This would actually align perfectly for Canada. They can then re-look at the F35A as a strike fighter or something else in another 15 years, while eliminating one of the SAABs shortfalls (ability to act as a bomb truck). LM can’t overly complain, they landed the T26 order in with BAE.
Hi Anonymous [at 3/2/19 5:59 PM]
Yes your point makes sense that if Canada was permitted by the US to buy Super Hornets then Canada could almost automatically buy older Classic Hornets from Australia. Particularly given Canada already owns basically the same Classic Hornet model as Australia.
I think it may be politically difficult for Canada (NORAD and NATO wise) to buy Swedish SAAB Gripens. This is partly because a Canadian buy of Gripens would not merely be a 5-10 year filler on the way to Canada buying American/or 2nd hand Aussie Super Hornets. Instead a Gripen buy would be at least 25 years (5 years to acquire then 20 years to operate).
Regards
Pete
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