Canada's Auditor General Cites 'Significant Problems" In The F-35 Program

Canada’s Plan To Buy F-35 Jets Is In Doubt As Auditor General Cites ‘Significant Problems’ -- New York Times

OTTAWA — Canada’s plan to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin grew less certain on Tuesday after a scathing report by the country’s auditor general.

While large military contracts are often politically contentious in Canada, the Conservative government’s decision in 2010 to join the United States in selecting the F-35 as the country’s next fighter aircraft has been particularly controversial.

Cost increases and delays in the F-35 program have caused headaches for both governments, and Canadian critics argue that the aircraft costs too much and is too sophisticated for the needs of the country’s air force.

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More News On The Reaction Of Canada's Auditor General's Report On The F-35

Auditor strafes F-35 decision -- Winnipeg Free Press
F-35 fighter jets: Defence officials waged stealth campaign to get jets approved, auditor general report says -- Calgary Herald/Reuters
Auditor general slams Canada’s plan to buy F-35 jets -- Toronto Star
Canada Says It Won’t Buy F-35 Planes Before Oversight Rules -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Tories rush to contain F-35 fallout -- CBC
F-35 program now a plague for the Tories -- Canada.com/Post Media News
MacKay responsible for F-35 mess -- Ottawa Citizen

My Comment: Revenge is always best served cold. Regular readers of this blog know that I am a Canadian, and that I have been a constant critic of the F-35 program. Like Eric Palmer in his blog, I have been trying to influence the debate .... much of it privately .... that there are a number of questions and doubts that need to be addressed before Canada accepts the F-35 program as the backbone for it's air-force. Unfortunately .... as you can imagine .... my doubts and questions were never addressed .... and in fact .... were scorned at by two elected politicians and a few "persons" in the DND. After yesterday's auditor's report .... I now expect this scorn to be replaced by silence and a lot of denials followed by the usual CYA.

So .... what is my take on what is going to happen next. Fortunately .... I can say that this fiasco has not impacted us as badly as the opposition would like us to believe. We have not bought a plane yet, and more importantly, we can still opt out of the F-35 program if we should decide to .... of which I am now very confident will be happening. This program has become toxic to the politicians, and if there is one thing that I do know about politicians in Canada, they never want to touch anything that has become poisonous.

The decision to buy a new fighter jet will NOW be done in the same manner and procedure that was used in deciding who was to build Canada' newest navy ships .... it will fall under public works and the process will be open and independent in its assessment of the program's viability and costs. Also .... the door will now be open to buy an entirely different plane if the new process warrants it.

In addition .... there must be some accountability for this fiasco .... heads must roll. On the top of that list should be the defense minister .... followed by his generals and those bureaucrats who did not properly managed this project. They failed in properly assessing the costs of the new planes as well as hiding key information from the government .... a no-no in any institution.

Finally .... I can only hope and pray that this Canadian auditor general report will be a heads-up to other countries that are interested in purchasing the F-35 jet .... including the U.S.. There are a number of questions and doubts that need to be addressed, and I would suggest that they should start with properly assessing the cost of manufacturing the plane, and the cost of maintaining it during it's lifetime.