Tories defend F-35 purchase amid new reports of deficiencies

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, Also known as Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) in flight. The government continued to defend its controversial purchase of new stealth fighter jets Monday following a weekend report that the F-35s don’t have the satellite capabilities necessary for communicating in the Arctic. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

TOBI COHEN
Postmedia News

OTTAWA — The government continued to defend its controversial purchase of new stealth fighter jets Monday following a weekend report that the F-35s don’t have the satellite capabilities necessary for communicating in the Arctic.

Hammered during question period over the latest in a series of technical problems that have come to light in recent months, Defence Minister Peter MacKay insisted the 65 jets Canada has committed to purchasing will be up to snuff by the time they’re delivered.

“With respect to the operational requirements for communications in the North, this aircraft will have state of the art communications,” he said.

“We will not be taking receipt of the aircraft, of course, for another five years. We are working closely with the F-35 partners within the consortium to see that it has all of the operational capability for the 21st century.”

A spokesman for Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino, who is responsible for military procurement, added a pair of polar satellites that may be launched by 2017 would help with respect to any current communications deficiencies related to the F-35.

First reported by Postmedia News, the joint initiative by the Canadian Space Agency, Environment Canada, National Defence and Natural Resources dubbed the Polar Communications and Weather Mission is meant to help Canada tap into natural resources, improve climate change monitoring and assert its Arctic sovereignty through improvements to military communication services.

“We expect communications for our aircraft in the North to meet or exceed current capabilities,” Chris McCluskey said in an email.

On Monday, both the New Democrats and Liberals rhymed off a number of reported F-35 deficiencies from their inability to land on short runways in the north to reports of mid-air refuelling problems, bulkhead cracks, airflow problems and other technical issues.

The NDP further complained about cost — now pegged at about $75 million per aircraft by the Conservatives and $128.8 million by Canada’s budget watchdog, the Parliamentary Budget Officer — and asked the government to reconsider the purchase.

“The government is stubbornly awarding a $30-billion contract for these jets without any kind of framework or bidding process,” argued New Democrat Matthew Kellway, who sits on the Commons defence committee.

“Not only was the process not transparent, but we now learn that the jets do not even work in the north.”

Meanwhile, Liberal leader Bob Rae commended the government on the “tremendous process” used in awarding a pair of shipbuilding contracts last week and urged the government to do the same for the F-35s.

Lockheed Martin was awarded the sole-source contract to build the jets, although Canadian companies can bid on supply contracts for aircraft being manufactured for all countries involved in the Joint Strike Fighter program.

Still, there is no guarantee that industrial and regional benefits will match the total value of the project, a requirement when contracts are awarded through competition.