BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

Not yet, but soon, hopefully. Tempest.  Storm.  Whirlwind.  CYCLONE.  It would seem that Canada's newest helicopter was aptly named, not for the downwash of its propeller, but for the type of controversy it would cause. By now, many of you have heard that the CH-148 Cyclone is pretty much a " done deal ".  Despite a brief period of threatening to take their business elsewhere , the Canadian government announced that they would be going ahead with the troubled Cyclone purchase.  This was done as a late Friday afternoon "info dump", a practice that indicates that they want the announcement to attract the least amount of attention.  Despite this, criticism has been ramping up, questioning the choices made and the money spent in what former Defence Minister Peter MacKay called  "the worst procurement in the history of Canada". Those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it, so let's look at some of the lessons (hopefully) ...

CH-148.  Better late than never... It's years late, still doesn't work right, and its manufacturer wants us to take delivery anyway. No.  Not the F-35. After briefly teasing that it may restart the already once restarted procurement process to replace the CH-124 Sea Kings, the Federal Government has announced that it will continue as planned with the CH-148 Cyclone procurement.  This, despite technical difficulties  causing the Cyclone to miss its intended 2008 start date.  The government's press release states that it intends to have fully functioning helicopters as of 2018, a full ten years late. (Fun fact:  In journalism, if an entity releases a statement on a Friday afternoon, that means it's bad or embarrassing news that they hope will blow over slightly by the time everybody is back to work on Monday.) Not dead yet.  CH-124 Sea King. I guess the good news is that Sikorsky has agreed to deliver the CH-148 with "no addition...

Canada's military procurement.  A few hits, but mostly misses.   Canada's military procurement strategy lately seems to beg the question:  "Does Canada have a military procurement strategy?" Big ticket items, like fighter jets, helicopters, and even a new headquarters seem almost unobtainable thanks to controversy, cost overruns and delays.  In the meantime, the Canadian Armed Forces are left wondering when the new equipment will arrive, if ever. How bad is it?  Some have compared it to a Monty Python movie. The Sea King replacement:  Going on 30 years of searching... The most notorious example, the Sea King replacement, has now been in the works since 1983.  It's one time designated replacement, the EH101, was canned by the Chretien government back in 1993, and the program was put on the back burner until the mid-1990s.  Finally, in 2004, a militarized version of the Sikorsky S-92 Cougar, dubbed the CH-148 Cyclone, was selected....