Military procurement: Déjà vu all over again--plus; and a Quebec kicker
National Defence Minister O'Connor will pitch Cabinet a massive package. It builds on the one his Liberal predecessor Bill Graham could't get through last November. Let's hope the new minister has more luck.
The federal government will be asked this week to approve a multi-billion-dollar "wish list" of equipment purchases for the Canadian Forces, including new transport aircraft, helicopters, long-overdue trucks for the army and multi-purpose troop transport and supply ships for the navy.
Defence sources say Gordon O'Connor, the Defence Minister, will make a pitch to a Cabinet committee tomorrow for six major projects worth more than $8-billion...
At the top of Mr. O'Connor's list will be four new C-17 Globemaster cargo jets, which the sources said would be bought directly from the U.S. manufacturer, Boeing, in a "sole source" acquisition.
The government will also be asked to approve the purchase of 17 tactical transports -- smaller, propeller-driven aircraft that can land troops or cargo in remote, rough airstrips. The likely winner of that contract will be the C-130J, the latest model of the venerable Hercules now in service with the Canadian air force.
Mr. O'Connor is also proposing to buy as many as 20 new heavy-lift helicopters for the army and a total of 18 new search-and-rescue planes.
The army is to get a replacement for its 24-year-old logistics trucks, while the navy will get approval for its three new joint-support ships [JSS], a combination troopship and resupply vessel due to be built over the next five years, the sources said...
The November proposal was just for tactical transports, heavy-lift helicopters, and fixed-wing SAR aircraft. Now the Army and Navy are also to get badly-needed equipment, and Minister O'Connor his C-17s (a good thing if everything can be got). The complete package seems to be most of what Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Hillier and the Canadian Forces have been asking for, in many cases for years (we all know the reason for the delays).
Airbus is already lobbying furiously for its A400M (which has not flown, has a new, untried engine, and likely would not be available until 2011) to serve as a strategic lifter. And this January Airbus was pitching the A400M as a Hercules replacement--and furiously lobbying the Quebec aerospace industry with the lure of off-set work. This could get very nasty given the Conservatives' fierce wooing of Quebec votes.
How governments calculate prices keeps shifting; the costs are obviously not consistent. The Graham package last November was billed as $12.1 billion. This considerably larger one is billed as $8 billion plus. Go figure.
But some things must wait.
...many other projects have been pushed back for a year or longer, including a plan floated under the Liberal government to purchase one or more large amphibious ships to carry troops, aircraft and equipment to trouble spots around the globe...
I smell a fix here. In return for the JSS (at least most of them) being built in Canada (hang the added expense and delays, politics is politics), when the government gets around to the amphibious assault ship it may consider an off-shore purchase. The Dutch have a nifty example but there are several other possible sources (France, UK, US, Italy--the last is the un-Canadian "hybrid" aircraft carrier that the Liberals so misleadingly and viciously attacked in the 2004 election).
News too that the Navy's fleet of twelve coastal defence vessels is severely inadequate. These were built in Canada and replacing them sooner than planned would provide years of work for Canadian shipyards.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
The federal government will be asked this week to approve a multi-billion-dollar "wish list" of equipment purchases for the Canadian Forces, including new transport aircraft, helicopters, long-overdue trucks for the army and multi-purpose troop transport and supply ships for the navy.
Defence sources say Gordon O'Connor, the Defence Minister, will make a pitch to a Cabinet committee tomorrow for six major projects worth more than $8-billion...
At the top of Mr. O'Connor's list will be four new C-17 Globemaster cargo jets, which the sources said would be bought directly from the U.S. manufacturer, Boeing, in a "sole source" acquisition.
The government will also be asked to approve the purchase of 17 tactical transports -- smaller, propeller-driven aircraft that can land troops or cargo in remote, rough airstrips. The likely winner of that contract will be the C-130J, the latest model of the venerable Hercules now in service with the Canadian air force.
Mr. O'Connor is also proposing to buy as many as 20 new heavy-lift helicopters for the army and a total of 18 new search-and-rescue planes.
The army is to get a replacement for its 24-year-old logistics trucks, while the navy will get approval for its three new joint-support ships [JSS], a combination troopship and resupply vessel due to be built over the next five years, the sources said...
The November proposal was just for tactical transports, heavy-lift helicopters, and fixed-wing SAR aircraft. Now the Army and Navy are also to get badly-needed equipment, and Minister O'Connor his C-17s (a good thing if everything can be got). The complete package seems to be most of what Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Hillier and the Canadian Forces have been asking for, in many cases for years (we all know the reason for the delays).
Airbus is already lobbying furiously for its A400M (which has not flown, has a new, untried engine, and likely would not be available until 2011) to serve as a strategic lifter. And this January Airbus was pitching the A400M as a Hercules replacement--and furiously lobbying the Quebec aerospace industry with the lure of off-set work. This could get very nasty given the Conservatives' fierce wooing of Quebec votes.
How governments calculate prices keeps shifting; the costs are obviously not consistent. The Graham package last November was billed as $12.1 billion. This considerably larger one is billed as $8 billion plus. Go figure.
But some things must wait.
...many other projects have been pushed back for a year or longer, including a plan floated under the Liberal government to purchase one or more large amphibious ships to carry troops, aircraft and equipment to trouble spots around the globe...
I smell a fix here. In return for the JSS (at least most of them) being built in Canada (hang the added expense and delays, politics is politics), when the government gets around to the amphibious assault ship it may consider an off-shore purchase. The Dutch have a nifty example but there are several other possible sources (France, UK, US, Italy--the last is the un-Canadian "hybrid" aircraft carrier that the Liberals so misleadingly and viciously attacked in the 2004 election).
News too that the Navy's fleet of twelve coastal defence vessels is severely inadequate. These were built in Canada and replacing them sooner than planned would provide years of work for Canadian shipyards.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 9:22 a.m.
1 Comments:
Canada's miltary is sadly lacking by the sounds of it and needs some major bucks. Too bad were spending thirty biillion dollars a year too finance the federal debt.
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