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F-35 is the 'best': Top military boss
Pilots with the Royal Canadian Air Force want to fly in F-35 stealth fighter jets when the current CF-18s are retired, according to the chief of defence staff.
Walt Natynczyk, the military's top boss, appeared before Parliament's defence committee Thursday to talk about military preparedness but was peppered instead with questions about the controversial purchase of the multi-role fighter jets.
"Let me tell you that when I go to Cold Lake and I go to Bagotville and I talk to those young men and women who get in the F-18 and I ask them 'What aircraft so you want?' they tell me that they want the F-35 because it is the only fifth-generation, capable fighter for that next phase," Natynczyk told reporters after his committee appearance.
He told the committee the F-35 is the best plane to replace Canada's ageing fleet of CF-18s, and also suggested that 65 -- the number ordered by the feds for $9 billion over a year ago -- is the minimum number of the aircraft the air force needs.
"We need to have these aircraft both for our sovereignty of Canada and to meet our international obligations as set by the government of Canada," he said.
Later, when pressed by reporters about concerns in the United States and Canada that development of the fifth-generation stealth aircraft is running behind schedule and costs could exceed the current estimates, Natynczyk said the $9 billion price includes a 30% contingency fund.
And the defence department's people who are working on the F-35 deal are still of the opinion the conventional takeoff and landing variant - the model Canada is buying - is on time and on budget.
"We have people who are working very closely with our allies who know this aircraft and know the kind of technology that is out there," he said. "The fact is, those folks are telling me that in their view the best aircraft is the F-35, and I accept that. Right up to the commander of the Royal Canadian Airforce -- a fighter pilot -- and I take that at face value."
The government announced in July 2010 it would buy 65 F-35s at a cost of $9 billion -- plus an estimated $7 billion in maintenance costs over 20 years -- to replace the ageing fleet of CF-18s. The first F-35 is expected to arrive in 2016, when Canada will start paying for the planes.
But critics have decried the purchase -- one of the largest in the military's history -- as a sole-source deal, and believe the government should have instead asked for bids from competing firms.
Concerns have also emerged about the aircraft's potential capabilities in the Arctic.
The Conservatives, though, have maintained a competition took place years earlier under the previous Liberal government when Canada decided to become a partner in the Joint Strike Fighter program to develop the F-35.
F-35 is the 'best': Top military boss - Politics - Canoe.ca
Pilots with the Royal Canadian Air Force want to fly in F-35 stealth fighter jets when the current CF-18s are retired, according to the chief of defence staff.
Walt Natynczyk, the military's top boss, appeared before Parliament's defence committee Thursday to talk about military preparedness but was peppered instead with questions about the controversial purchase of the multi-role fighter jets.
"Let me tell you that when I go to Cold Lake and I go to Bagotville and I talk to those young men and women who get in the F-18 and I ask them 'What aircraft so you want?' they tell me that they want the F-35 because it is the only fifth-generation, capable fighter for that next phase," Natynczyk told reporters after his committee appearance.
He told the committee the F-35 is the best plane to replace Canada's ageing fleet of CF-18s, and also suggested that 65 -- the number ordered by the feds for $9 billion over a year ago -- is the minimum number of the aircraft the air force needs.
"We need to have these aircraft both for our sovereignty of Canada and to meet our international obligations as set by the government of Canada," he said.
Later, when pressed by reporters about concerns in the United States and Canada that development of the fifth-generation stealth aircraft is running behind schedule and costs could exceed the current estimates, Natynczyk said the $9 billion price includes a 30% contingency fund.
And the defence department's people who are working on the F-35 deal are still of the opinion the conventional takeoff and landing variant - the model Canada is buying - is on time and on budget.
"We have people who are working very closely with our allies who know this aircraft and know the kind of technology that is out there," he said. "The fact is, those folks are telling me that in their view the best aircraft is the F-35, and I accept that. Right up to the commander of the Royal Canadian Airforce -- a fighter pilot -- and I take that at face value."
The government announced in July 2010 it would buy 65 F-35s at a cost of $9 billion -- plus an estimated $7 billion in maintenance costs over 20 years -- to replace the ageing fleet of CF-18s. The first F-35 is expected to arrive in 2016, when Canada will start paying for the planes.
But critics have decried the purchase -- one of the largest in the military's history -- as a sole-source deal, and believe the government should have instead asked for bids from competing firms.
Concerns have also emerged about the aircraft's potential capabilities in the Arctic.
The Conservatives, though, have maintained a competition took place years earlier under the previous Liberal government when Canada decided to become a partner in the Joint Strike Fighter program to develop the F-35.
F-35 is the 'best': Top military boss - Politics - Canoe.ca
