BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

  Reports that there would be a "down selection" in the competition to replace Canada's aging CF-18s have turned out to be true...  Sort of.   Despite "industry insiders" predicting that the Saab Gripen will be removed from consideration , that dubious honor will go to Boeing's Super Hornet instead.  This is indeed a big surprise...  If you have not been paying attention.   The most striking fact about the Super Hornet's departure is that, at one point, it WAS going to be Canada's next fighter.  Well...   On an interim basis, anyway .  When the Liberal government formed in 2015, they had done so on the promise of cancelling Canada's F-35 purchase.  The F/A-18E/F seemed to be the most likely alternative.  In 2016, it was announced that Canada would be purchasing 18 Super Hornets as a way of filling a " capability gap ".  While these 18 Super Hornets would not be a replacing CF-18s per se , they could have definitely been u...

Block III Super Hornet The Boeing/Bombardier brouhaha can now be delegated to the annals of history.  The C Series is alive and well , thank you very much. After encouraging the Trump administration to impose stiff tariffs on the Canadian-designed airliner, Bombardier fought back with an Airbus partnership .  That partnership would render those tariffs moot by building C Series in the USA.  If that was not enough, the U.S. International Trade Commission unanimously voted to overturn those tariffs .  After suffering that one-two punch, Boeing has decided to drop its case against Bombardier . In its zeal to smother the C Series in its crib, Boeing stepped on toes and made enemies .  First, it raised the ire of the Canadian government.  This resulted in Boeing losing a $6 billion Super Hornet order which otherwise would have been a sure thing.  Not only that, but Boeing also ticked off Great Britain (which builds part of the C Series) and Del...

Brothers from different mothers? For those of you whom have been living under a rock the last 24 hours, Bombardier has now partnered with Airbus in order to save the C-Series. No actual money has exchanged hands, but Airbus now owns 50.01% of the C-Series program.  This gives Airbus controlling interest in the jetliner moving forward.  While this may seem like a blow to Bombardier to see its pride and joy become the property of someone else, this partnership all but assures the future of the C-Series and Bombardier as a whole. Under this new partnership, C-Series headquarters will remain in Montreal and production will continue in Bombardier's Mirabel assembly plant.  Airbus will expand C-Series production by utilizing its pre-existing plant in Mobile, Alabama.  This will allow the C-Series to circumvent the U.S. Department of Commerce's crippling 300% import tariffs.  Airbus will also contribute its considerable marketing and supply chain prowess. ...

It sure doesn't look scary... [Note:  Sorry to dwell on the Boeing/Bombardier dispute instead of jet fighters...  But what is happening with the C-Series will have lasting repercussions to Canada's aerospace industry.  The Federal government's response to cancel its plans for an interim Super Hornet not only shakes up Canada's upcoming fighter competition, it puts the entire thing in a blender.  This point in history will be remembered as a pivotal moment for Canadians, right up there with the cancellation of the Avro Arrow.] Bombardier got hit with another  tariff this past week.  The US Commerce Department imposed an 80% anti-dumping tariff on the CS100.  This is in addition to the 220% "countervailing" tariffs imposed the week before by the same office .  These tariffs come at the behest of Boeing; which accuses Bombardier of both receiving unfair government subsidies and selling the CS100 at below market prices in order to gain ma...

Welp...  So much for that! Thanks to " Trumponomics " the plan to acquire 18 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets is now effectively dead . While not yet official , Boeing has now positioned itself  persona non grata  to Canada's Liberal government.  After months of rhetoric and threats, the Liberal government would be foolish to back down on their threats to cancel its Super Hornet buy if Boeing continued its suit against Bombardier. Procuring the Super Hornet at this point would be political suicide to the Liberal party.  They would be roasted, and rightly so, all the way to the next election.  In the meantime, they risk appearing weak in NAFTA talks.  Who would back down against a government full of empty threats? Barring any last-minute compromise, the idea of a Canadian Super Hornet dead on arrival.  And we were so close, too . What is Canada to do now though?  We still have a fleet of rapidly aging fighters and a "capability gap".  We...

Well...  Shit. The U.S. Department of Commerce sided with Boeing and imposed a whopping 220% tariff on all Bombardier C-Series airliners sold to American-based airlines .  Needless to say that effectively  tripling the cost of the C-Series seriously jeopardizes the plan to sell 125 units to Delta airlines. This was very much a make-or-break moment for the the troubled C-Series.  Delta would have been considered the aircraft's first major sale; encouraging other prospective buyers to get on board. Boeing claimed that Bombardier was "dumping" C-Series airliners on the US market.  The argument was that since Bombardier was the recipient of government assistance during development of the C-Series, it is able to sell the aircraft at below market value. The sheer hypocrisy of all this is mind-blowing.  Boeing, America's largest recipient of corporate welfare  accused Bombardier of an unfair advantage for doing the exact same thing that Boein...

Almost had it... In late 2016, Canada's fighter jet saga seemed to finally be reaching a resolution (at least in the short-term) after Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced that Canada would be purchasing 18 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets as an "interim" fighter.  These fighters would fill a "capability gap" whilst Canada pursued a permanent CF-18 replacement. The move made sense .  The Super Hornet is readily available, affordable, and similar to our current fleet.  Some questioned that the move would give Boeing an unfair advantage going in to a full competition, but whomever said defence acquisitions were fair?  At the very least, the RCAF would finally have some new fighters. Of course, this being a story of Canadian military procurement, a plot twist was inevitable.  That plot twist came from Canada's own Bombardier. All this over a little airliner... To say Bombardier has a controversial history is an understatement.  At any given ...