Senate report: Scrap Super Hornets, start fighter competition

A Senate committee report is calling on the federal government to cancel a plan to acquire an interim fleet of 18 Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets and proceed directly to an open competition to select Canada’s next fighter jet.

The recommendation was one of 30 issued by the Standing Committee on National Security and Defence May 8 in the second of two reports intended to serve as a blueprint for reinvestment in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

“I believe this report, the way it has been structured, is presented in a manner that should be seen as a very good working document for the government to make decisions from,” said Conservative Senator Daniel Lang, chair of the committee.

The first report, released in April, catalogued the chronic underfunding of the military, which the committee pegged at .088 per cent of GDP, and proposed a gradual increase in defence spending to reach Canada’s NATO commitment of two per cent over the next 10 years. It also recommended major changes to the military procurement system, which Lang characterized as “almost in paralysis.” Among other recommendations, the committee wants responsibility for all defence and coast guard projects shifted from Public Services and Procurement Canada to the Department of National Defence.

Monday’s report took the next step, detailing an ambitious list of procurement projects for the air force, army and navy, measures intended to address “urgent capability gaps,” said Lang. It also raised several policy issues, urging modernization of the NORAD agreement to expand cooperation in maritime domain awareness and cyber defence, as well as participation in ballistic missile defence.

The release of a report calling for substantial investment in new military equipment comes on the heels of a speech by Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan acknowledging the “hole” the government currently finds itself in due to decades of inadequate defence spending. In advance of the government’s new defence policy, Sajjan told the Conference of Defence Associations Institute last week that “significant” new funding is required just to sustain existing operational needs.

“Our report provides non-partisan, practical advice, well grounded in evidence, [for] how the government can best support our troops,” said Lang. “We do hope the government is listening.”

Liberal Senator Mobina Jaffer, committee co-chair, said she was comfortable with recommendations such as an immediate fighter replacement competition that appear to counter recent announcements by the government.

“We are in a different environment now,” she said. “Things have changed. And if we don’t deal with the issues of the underfunding of defence…we will really become a weaker partner. The time has come now when we really have to stand up to our responsibilities.”

While the committee did not specifically name the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter as the logical replacement for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s fleet of 76 CF-188 Hornets, it suggested the F-35 would provide greater interoperability with allies, deliver better economic benefits to Canadian industry, and reduce duplication in the air force’s training and maintenance systems providing the government agrees to forego an interim fleet.

“Common sense has to come into play with respect to what we are doing with the military,” Lang said in response to a question about an obvious preference for the F-35. Whatever the government selects, the committee is recommending it make a decision by June 30, 2018.

The fighter jet replacement was just one of several air force projects the report flagged for immediate attention. Most notable was a significant upgrade and expansion of the entire helicopter fleet. The committee recommended replacing 55 of the current fleet of 95 CH-146 Griffon transport and tactical helicopters, and adding 24 attack helicopters to make up the difference, a capability currently absent in the RCAF. The report also suggested expanding the CH-147F Chinook fleet from 15 to 36 helicopters, and upgrading and increasing the CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue fleet from 14 to 21 by converting seven VH-71 airframes acquired in 2011 for spare parts into working aircraft.

In an interview with Skies, Lang said the need for an attack helicopter like a Boeing AH-64 Apache was identified in discussions with allies, especially the Netherlands, which found the capability critical to many missions. Canada, he noted, is “always looking to somebody else for assistance” with that capability. “If we are going to be self-contained as a military, obviously it is an area we have to look at.”

The report also recommended the rapid replacement of the Airbus CC-150 Polaris air-to-air refuelling aircraft, and the acquisition by 2018 of a mixed fleet of armed and unarmed medium and high altitude, long endurance unmanned aerial vehicles to meet the specific requirements of the air force, army and navy.

An increase in new airframes would likely mean a need for more aircrews. The committee did not recommend expanding the size of the military, but Lang acknowledged an increase in personnel across the CAF would “have to be taken into account as we move forward.”

The lengthy shopping list, which included 12 submarines and 18 surface combatants, as well as a second interim Resolve-class replenishment ship and 60 more upgraded light armoured vehicles (LAV 6.0), would also come with a large bill.

Lang admitted the committee did not have the ability to fully price out the equipment, but said billions would be available if the government followed its prescription to grow defence spending from .088 to two per cent GDP over 10 years.

“I’m satisfied that if we get to our two per cent objective by 2028, we should be able to go a long way to meeting what we recommend in this report,” he said.

Senate reports rarely receive the attention they deserve, but Lang said the committee will know if its recommendations have been taken seriously when the government submits its spending estimates to Parliament in June.