Mary-Louise Hoffman
Canada looks to procure Boeing-built F/A-18E Super Hornets as an “interim measure” to address a looming capability gap in the country’s military fighter aircraft fleet, the National Post reported Monday.
Lee Berthiaume and John Ivison write Canada could replace its military’s aging fleet of CF-18 Hornets with Super Hornets before the Canadian government decides on whether to go ahead with acquisition of F-35s built by Lockheed Martin.
“The government is working very hard on this file as it must because today the Canadian Armed Forces are risk-managing a gap between our NATO and NORAD obligations, and the number of planes we can put in the air on any given day,” a Canadian defense official was quoted as saying.
The report said procuring Super Hornets to temporarily fill a capability gap of the Canadian military could be a strategy of Canada’s Liberal government to delay a competitive fighter aircraft procurement without triggering a lawsuit.
