Harper's Claim F-35 Cancellation Will 'Crater' Aerospace Industry 'A Lot Of Baloney'

OTTAWA — "He's not giving shipbuilding anything; he's merely talking about cratering our aerospace industry, which is, as I say, bad policy.... I don't understand where they're going with this." — Conservative Leader Stephen Harper on Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's promise to scrap the F-35 stealth fighter program and channel the savings into naval shipbuilding.

Baloney Meter: Will cancelling F-35 ‘crater’ the Canadian aerospace industry?

OTTAWA — "He's not giving shipbuilding anything; he's merely talking about cratering our aerospace industry, which is, as I say, bad policy.... I don't understand where they're going with this." — Conservative Leader Stephen Harper on Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's promise to scrap the F-35 stealth fighter program and channel the savings into naval shipbuilding.

___

One of the cornerstones of the Liberal defence policy is to formally opt out of the Conservative government's plan to acquire 65 F-35 stealth fighter jets to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of 1980s vintage CF-18s.

Potential for diminished F-35 benefits to industry a time bomb for Conservatives

OTTAWA - Amid the avalanche of figures, statistics, estimates and soothing political assurances coming this week on the Conservative government's troubled stealth fighter program, one report will warn about the lagging benefit for Canada's aerospace sector.

And it could prove more damaging in the long run than the bruising debate about the eye-popping cost of the multi-role fighter, say some experts.

Canada’s shrinking aerospace horizon

Gilles Labbé had a dream to create a diversified aerospace powerhouse.

The head of Héroux-Devtek Inc. spent decades building the Montreal company into a thriving maker of aircraft landing gear, airframes and industrial turbines with an ambitious growth strategy.

But in a strategic about-face in July, the company announced a plan to focus on its landing-gear business and sell most assets in its other divisions. Mr. Labbé said the board, fed up with the company’s languishing stock price, decided to sell non-core assets in a bid to boost shareholder value as a “pure play.”

An F-35 option: Produce the Pacific Rim Fighter

Sixty-five single-engine strike fighters are meant to replace 138 twin-engine multi-role CF-18s, now down to 77. They would spend almost all of their time having their Klingon cloaking device repaired.

To have an effective air force capability in the near- to mid-term, Canada will have to operate two different fighter aircraft types, and that is not a bad thing. The F-35 is looking to be neither affordable nor efficient as a do-everything fighter, and we must have aerial intercept capabilities for all three coasts, plus some ground attack forces for expeditionary operations.

If the Joint Strike Fighter program does produce a cost-effective first strike combat aircraft sometime in the mid-2020s, then we could procure a couple of squadrons of them to complement the 50 or more modern fighters that will replace most of the CF-18s in the near term.

On the chance that the JSF does not come to fruition, then we will still be involved in technologies that can be applied to future aircraft, such as a workable F-22 Raptor, or a more international Eurofighter-type aircraft.

Aerospace industry worries as Tories backtrack on F-35 purchase

The federal government is officially back-tracking on the process of buying the F-35 stealth fighter, part of a reassessment of the purchase that’s causing anxiety among Canadian companies hoping to tap billions of dollars in spin-off work for the jets.

The Department of National Defence has issued a significant correction to the “Plans and Priorities” report it tabled in Parliament for MPs last year.

In an “erratum” note, it says the 2011-12 report wrongly described the F-35 purchase as being in “definition” project phase, which generally means an item has already received preliminary approval from Treasury Board, the gatekeeper for federal spending.

Instead the decision to buy a next-generation fighter is being reclassified as being in “option analysis” phase, which means Ottawa is still determining what it needs in terms of a plane.

In the note, National Defence blames an unknown bureaucrat for the snafu, saying someone made a “typographical error” in the 2011-12 “Report on Plans and Priorities.”

The annual Reports on Plans and Priorities are an important accountability exercise for federal departments, which must file these documents in the Commons each year.

Canada Aerospace Industry: India, China Competition On The Horizon

MONTREAL - Aerospace industry-watchers said Monday that emerging powers like China and India will eventually compete in aircraft manufacturing -- but it might take a while.

The head of one industry think-tank noted that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, India's state-owned company, is heavily involved in building helicopters and plans to eventually develop its own fighters and commercial aircraft.

But Suzanne Benoit, CEO of Aero Montreal, added that India still has some catching up to do.

"It's not really a commercial company, it's a government-owned company so maybe the pace of development may not be as fast as other airframers," Benoit said in an interview Monday.

"It's not going to happen tomorrow, but you never know in India. The government may decide to put a lot of money into it."