F-35 back on the radar
The bungled F-35 procurement that has been plaguing the Harper Government is about to heat up again.
Canadian defence officials are close to completing a report comparing the Lockheed Martin jet and its competitors that will be delivered to the senior bureaucrats charged with putting the fighter procurement project back on track (Lee Berthiaume, “F-35 controversy back on the horizon for federal government,” PostMedia News, 22 January 2014).
At stake is whether the government will choose to hold an open competition between the F-35 and other potential contenders to replace the CF-18 or will simply resume its original plan to purchase the F-35:
“If they think that the so-called reset button has been pushed by producing a same report that comes out with the same conclusion,” said NDP defence critic Jack Harris, “if that’s all it is, then it clearly would have been a farce.
“The only sensible way for the government to go is for an open competition.”
Stay tuned.
Photo credit: US Air Force