Quebec aerospace industry expects benefits from Boeing jet deal

But Tuesday, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced the Liberals would proceed with the purchase of 18 Super Hornets, in addition to holding a competition for the replacement of the CF-18 fleet later.

“The taxpayers will bear the cost of this and it’s not necessary”. “The Super Hornet does not require any of those things and for a country like Canada where a current class is operating, that transition is even easier”.

Sajjan also said Canada would remain part of the multinational Joint Strike Fighter Program through which Lockheed Martin developed the F-35 Lightning II chosen by the former Conservative government.

Canada will enter into negotiations over the interim fleet with Boeing immediately, which will include discussions over price and the aircraft’s interoperability with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation aircraft.

“We have a sense of what the cost will be, but we have to enter into negotiations with Boeing”, Ms Foote said.

Most recently, Canada announced plans to acquire as much as 18 Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) Super Hornet military jets to modernize aircraft fleet.

“We need a plane that is not in development”, a female Canadian official said during a press conference Wednesday.

Sajjan’s office refused to comment on Monday, with a spokeswoman saying only that a decision still has not been made. Boeing deferred a request on cost to the Canadian government.

Phase II of the Incremental Modernization Project, which was finished in 2010, included the installation and integration of a tactical data link system, helmet cueing system, color displays, upgraded countermeasures dispensers, and a triple-deck cockpit video recorder, among outfitting the CF-18s with other technologically advanced equipment.

That new search – already coming after prolonged study and review – will stretch five years, federal cabinet ministers say, prompting the need for an interim fix to bolster the fleet of decades-old CF-18s.

Canada’s decision to move forward with an interim Super Hornet purchase comes just as Boeing has realized two long-awaited fighter jet orders from the middle east. Canada had previously talked about buying 65 jets from the program, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said he wants a cheaper option.

In the Liberal election platform last fall the party promised they would not buy the F-35 and would launch an open and transparent competition to replace the aging CF-18s. The company, he said, believes the Super Hornet is the ideal complement to Canada’s current and future fighter fleet.

Sajjan said the military will implement a range of new measures including recruitment and training in order to extend the range of service of the existing CF-18 fleet.

Aerospace companies in the Canadian province of Quebec will likely benefit from in-service support contracts linked to a federal government purchase of 18 Boeing Co BA.N Super Hornets, an industry group said on Wednesday.

There is precedent for buying Super Hornets on an interim basis.

While the minister would not speculate on what might happen to the Super Hornets once the planned open competition yields a clear victor to succeed the Hornets, Vance pointed out that the RCAF has had mixed fighter fleets in the past, but not for several decades.

“The F-35 is combat ready and available today to meet Canada’s needs for the next 40 years”.