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A report which warned against buying an interim fighter jet for the Canadian military will remain secret, even though it had previously been on the Defence department’s website for more than a year.

The report was quietly pulled down from the site after the Liberal government announced its decision to purchase 18 Boeing Super Hornets as “interim” fighter jets until a permanent fleet for the existing CF-18 aircraft could be bought.

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The Defence Research and Development Canada report recommended against the purchase of such “bridging” aircraft to deal with gaps in capability.

The Liberal government has said Canada is facing a capability gap because it doesn’t have enough fighter jets to fulfill its military missions. Because of that it needs to buy the Super Hornets.

But the 2014 report that had been on the Department of National Defence website questioned that type of strategy. “The costs involved with bridging options make them unsuitable for filling capability gaps in the short term,” according to the report. “Any short term investment results in disproportionately high costs during the bridging period.”