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Thirteen former RCAF commanders have written a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for him to reconsider his purchase of interim Super Hornets and instead move immediately to a fighter jet competition.

Failing that the retired generals recommend that the Liberal government purchase legacy F-18s.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Retired RCAF generals roar in protest over the Super Hornet deal and the Liberals shrug Back to video

In the U.S., if 13 former USAF commanders came out against a particular aircraft, there would have been lots of publicity.

In Canada, not so much.

My colleague John Ivison broke the news of the letter in a recent column but most everyone else, including the Liberals, have just shrugged at the letter from the generals.

Set aside the fact that two of the those signing the letter have previous links to Lockheed Martin, the builder of the F-35 and the main competitor against the Super Hornet in any future fighter competition (it was long ago but Larry Ashley is a former president of Lockheed Martin Canada and Paul Manson, a former chief of the defence staff, was chairman of Lockheed Martin Canada).