$16 billion for the wrong planes
From Michael Byers, Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia:
On Friday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay made it official, publicly committing Canadian taxpayers to a $16 billion deal for the purchase and maintenance of 65 F-35s.
The contract will not be put out for tender because the Harper government has determined that only one plane fits its operational requirements. Or, more accurately, the Harper government has drawn up the operational requirements to exclude everything but the F-35.
The F-35 is a stealth fighter designed to penetrate radar defences on the first day of a war. It’s the sort of plane you would use to create “shock and awe” in Baghdad or Tehran.
Unless Canada is planning on being the sharp end of the American spear, we don’t need stealth technology.
The F-35 is designed for short takeoff and landing, with two of the three versions destined for aircraft carriers. Canada, of course, doesn’t have aircraft carriers.
And all that stealth technology and short takeoff and landing capacity comes at a cost. In addition to the price tag of about $135 million per plane, the F-35 has a relatively short range.
This makes it an odd choice for a large, sparsely populated country.
[…]
The cost of developing the F-35 is estimated at an astonishing $276 billion (U.S.). The cost of the F-22, which is based largely on the same technology, is even higher.
The United States is desperate to spread those costs, without selling its very best planes. It needs Canada firmly on board so that other allies — some of whom are wavering — will also commit to buying F-35s. It can’t wait for a tendering process.
Neither can the Harper government. For opening the procurement to tenders would require revisiting the ridiculously narrow operational requirements, and reveal that we’ve been sold a pig in a poke — on instructions from the Pentagon.
via Suresh
