The new chief of defence staff, general Thomas J. Lawson, advocated for a stealth fighter jet for Canada in an essay about the North American Aerospace Defence Command he wrote for an edition of the Canadian Military Journal earlier this summer.
Mr. Lawson, deputy commander of NORAD when Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) appointed him chief of defence staff on Monday, quoted testimony from air force commander lieutenant-general Andre Deschamps at a House of Commons committee in 2010 as he argued a stealth fighter is essential for the Canada-U.S. Norad to be able to deter potential attacks from China and Russia.
“Currently, both Russia and China are in the process of developing fifth generation fighters of their own,” Gen. Lawson wrote, with the help of captain Michael Sawler, in the summer edition of the Military Journal. “If they have the capabilities provided by these advanced aircraft, and NORAD cannot match them, the current symmetry would end.”
It’s why Canada needs the fighter jets, he said. “As a simple example, a fifth generation fighter, due to its stealth properties and its more advanced sensor suite, will ‘see’ a fourth generation fighter well before it is spotted in return. Also, it must be noted that it is impossible to upgrade a fourth generation fighter into a fifth generation fighter. Stealth must be expressly designed and built into a fighter from the outset,” Mr. Lawson wrote.
Mr. Deschamps, defending Canada’s F-35 acquisition that experts predict will be between $40- and $50-billion for the 65 aircraft the government plans to purchase, told the Commons committee that an analysis of capability requirements for an aircraft to replace Canada’s aging F-18 Hornet fighter jets “made it clear that only a fifth generation could satisfy our needs in the increasingly complex future security environment.”
But NDP MP Matthew Kellway (Beaches-East York, Ont.) told The Hill Times that the appointment of a chief of defence staff who has publicly advocated for the F-35 in the past will increase skepticism that the government is reconsidering the acquisition after a highly critical report on the project from Auditor General Michael Ferguson last April.
Among other things, Mr. Ferguson was devastating in criticism of how National Defence handled the buildup to the government’s 2010 decision, saying it failed to follow due-diligence rules and procedures and withheld information about risks and other conditions as the project continued. The auditor general said National Defence had as early as 2006 decided it wanted the F-35, and by the time it engaged Public Works for a procurement process, decisions had already been made that essentially ruled out an open competition.
“It's inevitable that the opinions of General Lawson will assume some significance in the F-35 debate,” Mr. Kellway said. “It should be noted that the role of the military in the procurement process is in establishing requirements and not choosing the equipment to meet those requirements.”
The NDP MP said Mr. Lawson’s promotion, in the midst of the F-35 debate and independent reviews the government is putting in place ostensibly to verify the acquisition and ensure it followed procurement law and policies, underscores allegations that National Defence and the government have not been transparent about full costs and reasons behind the procurement.
“We are left trying to divine a rationale for this government's commitment to a plane of unknown, but rapidly escalating, cost and that doesn't appear suited to our defence needs from bits and pieces of writing and testimony of senior Canadian Forces personnel,” Mr. Kellway said.
“What is required, but what is obviously missing, is an explicit, government policy statement that analyzes our security threats and sets out a clearly articulated response to those threats and from which a statement of requirements for a plane to replace the F-18 can be rationally derived. Then we can have an open competition for the purpose of choosing that replacement,” he said.
The opposition has also criticized the government for delaying an independent audit of estimated F-35 costs, postponing its presentation to Parliament until late November. As well, the opposition and critics have expressed concern about a separate independent review the government is commissioning, a proposed validation of all the steps that have been taken to date in the process that led to the F-35 acquisition decision.
The opposition says the review could turn into a challenge of the auditor general’s findings.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: TIM NAUMETZ
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