It’s Time For Canada To Build Its Own Fighter Aircraft

Not including our purchase of the F-18 Hornet, the approximate total expenditures in 2012 dollars that Canada has spent in purchasing the SAGE/Bomarc missile system, 200- F104 Star fighters, 66 F-101 Voodoos, 138 F-5 Freedom Fighters plus cancellation fees for the CF-105 Arrow as well as the Sparrow/Astra missile systems, is $11.1 Billion in 2012 dollars.

Not including our purchase of the F-18 Hornet, the approximate total expenditures in 2012 dollars that Canada has spent in purchasing the SAGE/Bomarc missile system, 200- F104 Star fighters, 66 F-101 Voodoos, 138 F-5 Freedom Fighters plus cancellation fees for the CF-105 Arrow as well as the Sparrow/Astra missile systems, is $11.1 Billion in 2012 dollars.


Not including our purchase of the F-18 Hornet, the approximate total expenditures in 2012 dollars that Canada has spent in purchasing the SAGE/Bomarc missile system, 200- F104 Star fighters, 66 F-101 Voodoos, 138 F-5 Freedom Fighters plus cancellation fees for the CF-105 Arrow as well as the Sparrow/Astra missile systems, is $11.1 Billion in 2012 dollars.

With the exception of the F-18, all of the other weapons system procurements were fiscal fiascos in one way or another.

The SAGE/Bomarc system was totally ineffective and the USAF cancelled its procurement of Bomarc missiles shortly after Canada’s purchase of the Bomarc from the U.S. in 1960. The USAF claimed it was outdated and too expensive. [1]

Purchase Price 1960 Dollars $271,000,000 - 2012 Dollars $2,153,419,338

Of the 200 high flying, supersonic F-104 Star Fighter, it was relegated to an unintended ground strike role. 110 F-104’s were lost due to accidents earning its nick-name ‘the Widow Maker’. [2]

Purchase Price 1960 Dollars $420,000,000 - 2012 Dollars $3,223,885,714

The F-101 Voodoo which was supposed to be a replacement for the Avro Arrow was earlier, in 1953, rejected by the RCAF as a replacement for the CF-100. [3]

Purchase Price 1961 Dollars $122,000,000 2012 Dollars $923,892,080

And finally, the RCAF acknowledged that the 138 F-5 Freedom Fighter was not suited for, nor would be an effective fighter aircraft in a NATO/Warsaw Pact conflict because of its short range and unsuitable light weapons/war load. [4]

Purchase Price 1968 Dollars $252,391,275 - 2012 Dollars $1,680,166,484
Cancellation Charges CF-105 Arrow [5] - 2012 Dollars $2,908,308,169
[6] Cancellation Charges Sparrow & Astra System - 2012 Dollars $309,901,690
Total Expenditure 2012 Dollars $11,199,574,111

[7] The projected cost of 100 CF-105 Arrows including all development cost and supply of weapons and spares in 1958 Dollars. $781,000,000, in 2012 Dollars $6,198,033,802

What did we get for 11.1 Billion Dollars? The answer is a second rate, third world Air Force. What did we loose? A workforce of 25,000 – 30,000 skilled engineers and technicians, as well as a world class aircraft industry that has taken us 40 years to recover. For the 11.1 billion in wasted 2012 dollars we could have saved our world class aircraft industry, a 1958 workforce of 25,000 – 30,000 and produced the most advanced fighting aircraft in the world. The debate continues.

Now, 40 years later our aircraft industry is again world class. So why not build our own? It’s time for the Canadian Government to bolster aeronautical experts from Bombardier Aerospace, Bristol Aerospace, Rolls-Royce Canada and numerous other Canadian aerospace companies to come up with a Canadian designed and built fighter replacement for the F-18 Hornet. There is time. If Sweden can do it, we can too.

As an alternative, we could build the proven Swedish the JAS39 Gripen under license for a costs of $60 million per plane vs. the unproven F-35, at projected of cost $138 million per plane. Saab has offered to allow Bombardier to build the Gripen jets, which would provide jobs and boost the Canadian economy. Not only are the initial procurement cost of the Gripen low, it is the least expensive modern fighter to operate at approximately $4,700 per flight hour vs. the F-35 cost of $21,000 per flight hour. (Kyle Meema article, Ottawa Citizen, Jan. 7, 2013)

Cost of Alternative Air Defence Programme. Cancel Arrow/ Sparrow, Bomarc/SAGE

Library and Archives Canada. P 225 Appendix 1 Storms of Controversy. Campagna.

Wikipedia/Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. USAF Cost (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter)

Top Secret Minutes of the Canada-United States Ministerial Committee on Joint Defence. Montebello, Quebec, on July 12 & 13, 1960. Mr. Thomas S. Gates, Jr., U.S. Secretary of Defense

Canadian Military Journal, Autumn 2006. Cold War Airpower Choices for the RCAF: Paul Hellyer and the selection of the CF-5 Freedom Fighter. By Major Ray Stouffer, Dr. of History RMC, 2006

Cost of Alternative Air Defence Programme. Cancel Arrow/ Sparrow, Bomarc/SAGE
Library and Archives Canada. P 225 Appendix 1 Storms of Controversy. Campagna.

Cost of Alternative Air Defence Programme. Cancel Arrow/ Sparrow, Bomarc/SAGE
Library and Archives Canada. P 225 Appendix 1 Storms of Controversy. Campagna.

Cost of Alternative Air Defence Programme. Cancel Arrow/ Sparrow, Bomarc/SAGE
Library and Archives Canada. P 225 Appendix 1 Storms of Controversy. Campagna.
Editor’s Note: G.N. Hamilton, a Defence Watch reader and retired physics prof (as well as ex-RCAF) has submitted this interesting article, arguing for a made in Canada fighter aircraft solution.


Source: By Neil Hamilton - Defence Watch Guest Writer (http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com)
News – 5 February 2013

Photo: The Canadian Air Force F-35 Fighter Aircraft (Photo by files)


(5.02.2013)