Article content

Procurement minister Carla Qualtrough said at the CANSEC military equipment trade show last week that she expects the first two used Australian F-18s to be delivered in 2019.

But she told journalists that she still doesn’t have a final cost for taxpayers for the deal of the 18 used aircraft, spares, weapons and other related equipment. The Liberal government has set aside up to $500 million for the purchase.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or First 2 Australian fighter jets to be in Canada next year but no word yet on final cost Back to video

Qualtrough said negotiations are still ongoing so she won’t have a final tally until later.

Pat Finn, the Department of National Defence’s assistant deputy minister of materiel, recently noted that the Canadian government has received what’s called a letter of cost proposal on the proposed sale. He expects that a deal will be in place by the end of the year with deliveries to begin in the summer of 2019.

The Liberal government originally planned for the arrival of the first used aircraft in January 2019.