Editor's Note: The article on Matthew Chance has been republished many places on the internet and routed to this fine article by my co-editor, Paul Richard Harris. The article on CNN's Matthew Chance is located here (scroll down when you arrive). But please continue to read PHR's essay, Canada and the flight of fantasy to see the absurdity of Canada's purchase of weapons of war from the United States. Thanks, Les Blough, Axis of Logic.
Thirty billion-ish dollars is a lot of money to lay out, just for the purpose of pleasing the neighbours. You’d think if you were going to spend that kind of cash for military equipment, at least it would be of some value to your own country. Not Canada, though.
In recent years Canada has decided that it likes being seen as one of the big kids. So Canada’s latest venture into the world of the geopolitical tough guy is to buy a bunch of F-35 fighter jets from the United States. You know, for defense. And who is Canada anticipating might be an aggressor against it? Well, nobody, really. But you can’t be too careful about these things.
As the saying goes, Canada needs these airplanes like a fish needs a bicycle. But the government has committed to purchasing 65 of the fighters, at a nominal price of $9 billion. Mind you, once all the extras are added in – maintenance agreements, white-wall tires, cup holders, MP3 players with surround-sound stereo, and so on – the price is projected to come in close to $30 billion.
Consider the military value of these planes to Canada. Since the end of World War 2, Canada has been involved in five conflicts, and its use of fighter planes during those conflicts goes like this:
Korea (1950-53) – none;
Gulf War (1991) – 24;
Kosovo (1999) – 18;
Afghanistan (2001-2011) – none;
Libya (2011) – 6.
So, in total, Canada has used 48 fighter planes in combat in the past 60 years – out of the 1,100 or so that it’s purchased or built.
… the reality is that over six decades [Canadian] governments have always been leery of sending many planes into combat zones and it has deployed them only to those situations where air superiority is already guaranteed by large numbers of U.S., British and, occasionally, French forces.
Jet lag: Some hard questions about the F-35 purchase
Brian Stewart, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,
March 23, 2011
So where’s the crying need for 65 new state-of-the-art flying killers?
The only possible answer can be to make the country look cooperative in the eyes of the United States. These planes are virtually useless for domestic matters, and Canada doesn’t get involved in wars abroad very often. But its closest neighbour does. In fact, the list of countries where the United States has not been involved militarily is shorter than where they have been.
So, again, can the purchase of these fighters be for any other reason than pleasing friends and neighbours?
And it should be made clear that this purchase is coming from a government that has spent the past five years lecturing the world about the virtues of fiscal restraint.
But let’s indulge in a little fantasy here, and assume that Canada really really really needs these airplanes. What are they getting for their dollars?
First, they get the thanks of Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer. The company was badly in need of a shot in the arm following the release of numerous Pentagon reports in the spring of 2010 predicting that the production costs of these units was already off the charts and certain to spiral upward. Canada became the first committed purchaser of an airplane that is, so far, still experimental.
Canada has something of a history with Lockheed Martin. In 2003, the company was awarded a contract to conduct the 2006 national census in Canada. This is despite the fact that Statistics Canada is renowned throughout the world for the quality and accuracy of its data compilation and analysis. Apparently, the government of the day preferred to offshore the census – for a fee – rather than have it conducted by the bureau that it already owns. There were numerous protests when the contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin, but it went ahead anyway. They also conducted the next census in 2011.
Since it appears that being the largest single recipient of US tax dollars is not enough for Lockheed Martin, the government of Canada thought it might be a friendly gesture to help out.
But back to the airplanes. Because that was the real idea behind locking lips with Lockheed Martin in 2003 – it was the opening for a tighter relationship between Canada and the US military complex.
Although Canada’s military has traditionally been small compared to many countries, it has always been recognized as highly competent – if that’s the right word for a killing force. Historically, when it has been involved in conflict, Canada is known for effectively punching above its weight class. But it’s never been able to offer much more than logistical assistance in the many military adventures of the kids next door.
These new planes will help Canada get to the party.
During the national election in May 2011, the issue of the fighter purchase was raised a lot, but not with much vigour or passion. And it is an issue that should have commanded a lot of attention – not just because it signals a closer military alliance with the US, or because it suggests a more aggressive posture by Canada on the world scene – but because the evidence was clear to see that the government was lying through its teeth about the cost.
At this point, there is not a firm contract to buy the planes, just a memorandum of understanding. But there is not a lot of difference between these among honourable people, so we can be sure the purchase is going to go ahead.
Canada’s government has told its people that these planes are necessary. No, they aren’t. Admittedly, the current F-18s in service since the early 1990s might be getting a little long in the tooth, but given Canada’s traditional reluctance to use aircraft in combat (despite having a superb flying force), where is the need?
Canada’s government says the planes cost $70 million each. No, they don’t. The current sticker price in the US is $155 million per unit. There is a wide range of add-on costs that even military hawks are admitting is going to make these planes cost closer to $200 million. Volume purchase discounts might reduce the unit price to around $150 million each, but that’s still a big whack of money for aircraft that are never going to be used for more than two things – supporting the US in its repeated illegal military adventures; and delighting crowds at air shows.
In fact, though, the pricing is just a number pulled out of the air (pardon the pun) at this time – a full pricing profile won’t be available until the planes complete their testing runs, not expected until 2017. Most analysts are saying that the final purchase price for the 65 units will be in the $30 billion range.
Winslow T. Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information in Washington, writes in the July 6, 2011 edition of Embassy that these airplanes are not even close to usability in the way Canada anticipates. He describes that one of their features is the so-called stealth technology, but that this engineering marvel comes with a price. He writes:
Most of the performance rhetoric about the F-35 centers on the terms “fifth generation” and “stealth.” Far from an ability to fly anywhere “unseen,” as some have said, stealth limits the ability of selected radars to detect the F-35 to lesser distances.
In the presence of other radar types—some of them quite old designs—stealth aircraft can be “seen” routinely at long distance. Americans learned this when in 1999 Serbian air defenses in the Kosovo air war shot down one “stealth” F-117 and severely damaged another using quite antiquated radar air defenses.
He urges Canada to rethink its offer to purchase, or at least to withdraw it pending completion of the aircraft’s testing cycle. Wheeler goes on to note that the performance of these planes is expected to be:
“roughly equivalent to a 1960’s [sic] era American F-105 fighter-bomber. The F-105 “Lead Sled” was notorious for its inability to defend itself over North Vietnam during the Indochina War.”
So is Canada getting a good deal here? Not by a long shot.
Does Canada need to step up help the US in its efforts to dominate the world? Not by a long shot.
But so long as the bully currently leading the government in Ottawa (Stephen Harper) remains in office, there isn’t much doubt that Canada will follow through on its commitment to buy this pig in a poke. Much like it purchased a bunch of used submarines from Britain a few years back, only to find the damn things leaked.
Canada has some extraordinarily intelligent and capable people. But for some reason, those aren’t the ones who get elected.
Paul Richard Harris is an Axis of Logic editor and columnist, based in Canada. He can be reached at paul@axisoflogic.com
Read the Biography and additional articles by Axis Columnist, Paul Richard Harris
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