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Alex McColl

Forty years ago, Department of National Defence leaders insisted that Canada needed the most expensive jet available: The F-15 Eagle. Then prime minister Pierre Trudeau instead launched the New Fighter Aircraft competition, focused on industrial offsets and best value. The winner was the least expensive jet in the competition that met existing mission requirements: The CF-18 Hornet.

As history is fond of repeating itself, DND leaders today want the F-35: the most expensive jet available.

Once again, there is an affordable alternative. The new Saab Gripen-E, the only jet in the competition that would be made in Canada, is the least expensive jet that can replace the CF-18. The Gripen is the only jet in the competition with a lower operating cost than the CF-18 and would save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars relative to purchasing the F-35.

In September 2015, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau announced in Halifax that a Liberal government would not buy the F-35 and instead would launch an “open and transparent competition” to replace the CF-18. Much has been said about excluding the F-35, but pundits often forget the third element of his promise: that by purchasing a less expensive jet, we would free up more money for shipbuilding. When asked about the price tag, Trudeau’s answer was straightforward:

“By cancelling the F-35 … and choosing instead an alternative bid … we will be saving tens of billions of dollars in the coming decades. That money will be put towards ensuring that the National Shipbuilding Strategy is actually able to complete all the ships promised and continue to invest in the kinds of resources and training and equipment that the men and women in our Armed Forces so justly deserve.”

While the CF-18 replacement program hasn’t been as open and transparent as Pierre Trudeau’s NFA program, the Liberal government has made good on its promise to spend more on the navy. Vancouver’s Seaspan will receive an additional $14.2 billion to build 16 more ships for the Coast Guard. Halifax’s Irving Shipyards will receive an additional $1.5 billion to build two more Arctic patrol ships and the Canadian Surface Combatant budget will increase by $8 billion to ensure all 15 new frigates are fully funded.

Defence scholars Anton Bezglasnyy and Douglas Ross have warned that the high operating cost of the F-35 could make it “the plane that ate the Canadian navy.” A 2017 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office warned about escalating F-35 costs: “The annual F-35 operating and support costs were estimated to be considerably higher than the combined annual costs of several legacy aircraft, and according to DOD officials, the sustainment strategy was not affordable.” The F-35 only offers partial, and in no way guaranteed, industrial offsets.

Saab, on the other hand, has a history of full industrial offsets and affordability. Our NATO allies in the Czech Republic and Hungary are happy with their Gripen-Cs. The Hungarian Air Force performed the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission this summer and released a video on YouTube of Hungarian Gripen pilots chasing Russian Su-27s (and getting displeased looks from the Russian pilots when they pulled alongside). Earlier this month, Czech Gripens began their sixth NATO Air Policing tour.

The next-generation Gripen-E is a super Gripen, maintaining many of the legacy Gripen’s cost advantages while adding a state-of-the-art AESA radar, sensor fusion, more fuel, fifth-generation electronic warfare and battlefield networking. The Gripen-E’s sensor fusion wide-area touch screen is even made by the same subcontractor as the F-35’s sensor fusion display.

The Gripen-E was designed for Arctic operations at northern Swedish bases and forward operating locations. It was also designed to fly farther than the CF-18, making it perfect for large countries. The Gripen-E won Brazil’s contest, beating the French Rafale and American Super Hornet, because it offered domestic assembly with Embraer and met the technical requirements at half the total cost of ownership of the second-place Rafale.

The Gripen-E is also a front-runner in the Finnish competition to replace their F-18 Hornets. The Finnish bid includes a pair of Canadian-made Saab/Bombardier GlobalEye airborne radar jets. Canada’s CP-140 maritime patrol aircraft are older than the CF-18s and need to be replaced by 2030. The Saab/Bombardier GlobalEye and Swordfish jets are the obvious frontrunners, are made in Canada, and were designed to work perfectly with Gripens.

Saab, working with Lockheed Martin, has already delivered 2-Eyes NORAD compliant systems to the Royal Canadian Navy that came with jobs and investment in Halifax. The Halifax Frigate modernization program included Saab Sea Giraffe radars, Saab CEROS fire control systems, and Saab 9LV command-and-control systems. Saab also has a close partnership with Boeing as the primary development and manufacturing partner on the U.S. Air Force’s new T-X fighter trainer.

Regarding 5-Eyes and NATO integration, any claims that the Gripen-E would have a hard time are absurd. Not only are the Czech and Hungarian Gripens regularly flying NATO missions, but Swedish Gripen-Cs were an instrumental part of coalition operations over Libya. The Swedish Gripens integrated flawlessly, using NATO Link-16, flew a third of coalition recon missions, and provided intelligence of such a high quality that Swedish officers were invited to 5-Eyes intelligence meetings. The Canadian commander of those NATO operations, Lt.-Gen. Charles Bouchard, said of the Swedish jets: “The Gripens have a strategic importance for the operation. They have a spectacular capability.”

The NDP have stated their support for building fighter jets in Canada and the Gripen is the only remaining competitor offering domestic manufacturing. The Green party campaigned against the F-35 in 2015. Saab, being Swedish, is the only vendor committed to nuclear non-proliferation and focused on environmentally responsible manufacturing.

The Conservatives say that they will balance the budget, which they did in 2015, in five years. But the Harper government cut defence spending to below one per cent of GDP and deferred over $9 billion in defence programs to balance the 2015 budget. This led former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page to lament: “National Defence is becoming a source of funds to reduce the deficit. We’re going to need a whole new capital plan for National Defence.” Purchasing the F-35, and trying to balance the budget with other cuts in defence spending, would put the National Shipbuilding Strategy on the chopping block.

The Saab Gripen is the only jet that’s affordable enough for the Tories to balance the budget without cancelling ships. Purchasing the Gripen-E would allow Trudeau to keep his promise to buy an affordable alternative to the F-35 and fully fund the navy.

Alex McColl has a master of public policy degree from the University of Calgary, where he wrote his capstone thesis, “CF-39 Arrow II: A Swedish Solution to the CF-18 Replacement Problem,” on military procurement.