For Canada it is crunch time in deciding what fighter will replace their rapidly aging fleet of CF-18 Hornets.
It was just over ten years ago when then Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Canada’s intent to purchase 65 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lighting II jets to replace Canada’s only frontline fighter, the CF-18 Hornet. Flash forward 11 years later, and Canada has yet to receive a new fighter jet, while its existing fleet of fighters is pushing 40 years. Today we’ll look at how Canada got into the situation it is in today.
The CF-18 Hornet
Before we start, let’s look at Canada’s current frontline fighter, the McDonnell Douglas CF-188 Hornet (though it’s more commonly known as the CF-18).
The CF-18 utilizes the same airframe as the early McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 A and B models (A being the single seat version and B being the twin seat version), with slight modifications requested by Canada. It was selected in 1980 by the Canadian Government during their “New Fighter Aircraft program”, and beat out other contenders including the famous Grumman F-14 Tomcat, McDonnell Douglas F-15, and General Dynamics F-16. Canada accepted the first deliveries of the CF-18 in 1982.
Throughout the decades, the CF-18 has participated in many international missions, including missions during the first Gulf War, Kosovo and more recently Iraq. During this time, the CF-18 has received numerous upgrades to its systems and in the early 2000s, they were upgraded with data systems to bring them up to F-18 C and D standards. These upgrades were designed to keep the CF-18 flying to at least the year 2020, by which time it was hoped, a new fighter would be in service. Of course this didn’t happen due to Canada’s decision to cancel F-35A purchase made by Prime Minister Harper (more on this later), and due to the delay in finding a replacement jet, has forced Canada to look for stop gaps.
The first stopgap plan was a plan to purchase F/A-18E Super Hornets from Boeing, but due to a spat between the Canadian Government and Boeing regarding Bombardier civil aircraft, this plan fell through. This left Canada scrambling around. In 2017, Canada purchased used F/A 18 A and B airframes which were being retired from the Australian Air Force (which ironically was because the Australians were beginning their transition to the F-35A). The purchase from Australia consisted of a mix of 18 flyable aircraft and 7 non-flyable aircraft frames to be used for parts. More recently, the CF-18 will be receiving a radar package upgrade, putting in the same radar found on the modern F/A-18E and F Super Hornet and allowing the CF-18 to use more modern upgraded missiles and other guided munitions. However, all of these are temporary stop gaps, as the CF-18 is based on the original F/A-18 A airframe and is approaching it’s 40th birthday.
A Replacement Plan
It was known to Canada by the late 1990’s that it needed a new fighter jet to replace the aging CF-18. The US Navy had begun transitioning to the more powerful F/A-18E Super Hornet and many countries started to look at stealth aircraft to modernize their fleets for the 21st century. Canada had been part of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program in the late 1990s which spurred the development of the Lockheed Martin F-35, which eventually became the winner of the JSF program in 2001 beating out the Boeing X-32. Canada became a Tier III partner in the F-35 program and the Canadian economy benefited greatly from the F-35 JSF program with contracts to Canadian companies adding over $1 billion to Canada’s GDP.
Due to Canada’s involvement in the JSF program and the F-35 being selected as the winner, it was almost a given in many circles that the F-35 would be chosen as Canada’s next fighter to replace the CF-18. In July 2010, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Canada’s plan to acquire 65 F-35A’s to replace the CF-18s.
Pushback and Delays
The decision to chose the F-35 was immediately met with controversy by opposition party members. Mainly due to the fact that the decision to choose the F-35 was made with no competition, the F-35’s high cost, reliability issues with the F-35 at the time, and the availability of other cheaper alternatives. By 2012, the Canadian Government had abandoned the plan to solely acquire the F-35 and start a new process of selecting a new fighter.
The issue of the F-35 was a major talking point throughout Canadian politics, and by late 2015, Canada had elected Justin Trudeau as its new Prime Minister, whose promise during his campaign was to cancel any plan to purchase the F-35 and to purchase cheaper alternatives.
A New Competition
In June 2017, the Canadian Government announced its Future Fighter Compatibility Project (FFCP).
It was dubbed as: “an open and transparent competitive process to acquire new fighter jets to replace the existing fleet.”
The document goes into details on the need to acquire at least 88 new aircraft, with associated equipment, weapons, training, and sustainment services, for a cost of $15–19 billion. The FFCP gave a date of awarding the contact to be decided in the year 2022 and aircraft to go into service by 2025. According to the Canadian Government, “the process is reviewed by both an independent fairness monitor and an independent third-party reviewer.”
Initially there were five proposals:
Dassault Aviation — Rafale (Withdrawn from competition, Nov 2018)
Airbus Defence and Space — Eurofighter Typhoon (withdrawn from competition, Aug 2019)
Saab — JAS 39 Gripen E series
Boeing — F/A 18E Block III Super Hornet
Lockheed Martin — F-35A Lighting II
France’s Dassault was the first to withdraw from the program, citing that, “Canadian requirements for intelligence data sharing and interoperability, particularly with U.S. forces, would be difficult to meet.”
Next to withdraw was the Eurofighter Typhoon. In a statement released for its withdrawal, Airbus noted, “a detailed review has led the parties to conclude that NORAD security requirements continue to place too significant of a cost on platforms whose manufacture and repair chains sit outside the United States-Canada 2-EYES community.”
With the withdrawal of Airbus and Dassault, this leaves currently three options left for the Canadian Government to choose from.
Saab— JAS 39 Gripen E
The JAS 39 Gripen is a single engine light fighter built by Sweden’s Saab, and first flew in 1988. More recently, the aircraft has been upgraded to the newest E/F versions (the E is a single seat version with the F being a two seater version). Saab is currently pitching the single seat E version to Canada.
With the withdrawal of Dassault and Airbus, Sweden’s Saab is the only European aircraft maker left in the competition. Unlike France however, Saab has stated it is prepared for a full technology transfer to Canada. It however, has issues similar to the Eurofighter in that, Canada and the United States have a a very close working relationship, Saab has indicated that they could offer Gripen packages that could integrate American equipment onboard if needed. Saab’s benefit is that it is the cheapest aircraft out of the currently three available options. Saab has stated that it would build two “aerospace centers” in Canada to help support the Gripen if selected. Initial construction would happen in Sweden to meet the 2025 deadline, however a full technology transfer would be made to Canada to allow the aircraft to be built in Canada.
While the offers of low cost, low maintenance and eventual construction in Canada are all plus points, many question if the Gripen would be the best choice. Canada’s close ties with the United States and its geographic location to supply chains, make choosing a US design a better option in some views. Other issues include the Gripen being a light forth generation fighter, the Super Hornet can carry a larger payload and whereas the F-35 is a fifth generation stealth aircraft that Canada has helped develop through investment in the JSF program.
Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet
Boeing’s F/A -18E Super Hornet is a twin-engine multirole jet that was developed from the original F/A-18 Hornet. The Super Hornet is roughly 20% larger then the original Hornet, is equipped with more powerful engines, it has longer range, while using less fuel compared to the original Hornet in the process. In addition, it has advanced avionics and radars (some of which were developed for the stealth X-32, which lost to the X-35 in the Joint Strike Fighter competition), it can also carry a higher payload, and has a lower radar cross section compared to the original F/A-18, which the CF-18 is based on. Being the only twin-engine jet left in the competition, and years of service on board US Navy Carriers, the Super Hornet is seen as very well suited to operating in Canada’s harsh Northern areas. In addition, due to commonalities between the Hornet and Super Hornet, transition training for pilots and groundcrew should be pretty quick, allowing the Super Hornet to enter Canadian service without many issues that might arise when switching to an entirely new jet.
Many see the Super Hornet as the best middle ground decision, it has all the advanced avionics and carry the most advanced weapons, it is slightly more expensive then the Gripen, but significantly cheaper then the F-35.
The main issue concerning the Super Hornet maybe a political one. Boeing had brought a trade dispute with Canada’s Bombardier (now part of Airbus)over airliner sales to Delta Airlines. The US International Trade Commission eventually ruled against Boeing anyway, however there is claim that the dispute has left a bad taste for Boeing in the view of the Trudeau Government.
Lockheed Martin F-35A Lighting II
Finally, it looks like things have returned to square one. The Lockheed Martin F-35A Lighting II is a single engine, multipurpose combat jet that was developed in the late 90s out of the Joint Strike Fighter program.
It is the only 5th generation stealth aircraft in the competition, which makes it virtually invisible to radar. It has the latest military technology available.
It is used by more than a dozen nations to include, the US, UK, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan, and Australia (just to name a few). More recently, Switzerland has selected the F-35A to replace its fleet of F-5 and F/A -18 Hornets. Interestingly, Switzerland found itself in a similar situation as Canada. It was originally going to replace their jets with Saab’s Gripen, however voters in Switzerland by referendum turned down this idea, leading the Swiss Government to launch a new competition. In 2021, the Swiss Government selected the F-35A as the future fighter for Switzerland beating out the Gripen E and Super Hornet.
Having many allied nations using the same aircraft is extremely important as Canada would need an airplane that can easily be interoperable with not only the United States but it’s NATO allies and partners. The F-35 does just that, with more countries around the world adopting one form of it or another. As mentioned before, the F-35 came out of of the Joint Strike Fighter competition and was originally selected as the replacement for the CF-18 back in 2010. Canada has invested into the F-35 program and the economic gains from the F-35 program to Canada has been worth over $1 billion into it’s GDP and that its continued contribution into the F-35 program would see greater economic benefits to Canada.
Being a 5th generation stealth aircraft, would future proof Canada for the next few decades, and it would be ready to counter any new emerging stealth aircraft currently being developed by China and Russia.
The main drawbacks to the F-35 include it’s extremely high price tag and maintenance cost compared to the other two options. Some question that the F-35 is only a single engine aircraft and might have trouble operating in Canada’s Northernmost areas. The other drawback is a political issue as well, in axing the F-35 the first time, now the Trudeau Government would be faced with another challenge, if they approved the F-35 this time around, some will question what was the point of wasting time and money in this whole process, in addition, what happened to the promises of getting a cheaper aircraft would be asked of the Trudeau government.
Conclusion
Time is quickly running out for Canada to make a decision, this coming week on October 18th, the Canadian Government will narrow it down to two finalists, many believe that Saab’s Gripen will be eliminated from the competition leaving only the Super Hornet and F-35A options available.
