New Fighter Aircraft program
Encyclopedia
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
program in the late 1970s to select a single new fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
to replace the fleet of CF-101 Voodoo interceptors, CF-104 Starfighter attack aircraft and CF-5 Freedom Fighter light fighters. Several aircraft were considered during the program, which led to some internal friction within the Canadian Government as different aircraft were favoured among different departments. In spite of two changes of government, and after a somewhat contentious selection process starting on 17 March 1977, the F/A-18 was selected as the winner of the NFA program on 10 April 1980. A total of 138 CF-18 Hornet
CF-18 Hornet
The McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet is a Royal Canadian Air Force fighter aircraft, based on the American McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter. In 1980, the F/A-18 was selected as the winner of the New Fighter Aircraft competition, and a production order was awarded...
s were delivered between 1982 and 1988.
Background
The Canadian Forces had suffered from a long period of neglect and downsizing during the late 1960s and early 1970s that led to the aging of much of their military equipment. In the early 1970s the government came under increasing pressure from its NATO allies to redress this imbalance. This period came to an end in November 1975 after the Liberal government's tenth National Convention reversed their earlier military drawdowns and began a process of modernization across the entire Forces structure. As there had been little military capital expenditure over the prior five years, modernizing the forces would be an expensive process. In order to lower fiscal spending for the ambitious program, a series of individual programs were proposed to be spread out over the five-year period from 1977 to 1982.At the time Canada was tasked with four primary military duties; air defence of North America as part of NORAD, anti-submarine and related duties in the North Atlantic as part of NATO, a small role within the overall land-force structure of NATO in Western Europe, and the specialist role of reinforcing Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
with one brigade and all required air, sea and other support that might be needed for that mission (collectively known as "CAST
Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group
The Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group, or CAST, was a Canadian Forces battle group dedicated to the rapid reinforcement of Norway in the event of a land war in Europe. The Group was based on a mechanized infantry brigade, supported by two Rapid Reinforcement Fighter Squadrons equipped...
"). With the exception of air transport, equipment for all of these groups was lacking.
Six systems became the focus of the upgrade process. For the Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
a new "Long Range Patrol Aircraft" (LRPA) would dramatically increase their anti-submarine capabilities, while a new patrol frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
program would supplement the new and capable Iroquois class destroyer
Iroquois class destroyer
Iroquois-class destroyers, also known as Tribal class, are a class of four helicopter-carrying, guided missile destroyers of the Canadian Forces. Launched in the 1970s, they were originally fitted out for anti-submarine warfare, but a major upgrade programme in the 1990s overhauled them for...
with much larger numbers. Mobile Command
Canadian Forces Land Force Command
The Canadian Army , previously called Land Force Command, is responsible for army operations within the Canadian Forces. The current size of the Army is 19,500 regular soldiers and 16,000 reserve soldiers, for a total of around 35,500 soldiers...
needed a new main battle tank
Main battle tank
A main battle tank , also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the heavy direct fire role of many modern armies. They were originally conceived to replace the light, medium, heavy and super-heavy tanks. Development was spurred onwards in the Cold War with the development...
to replace their outdated Centurions
Centurion tank
The Centurion, introduced in 1945, was the primary British main battle tank of the post-World War II period. It was a successful tank design, with upgrades, for many decades...
, new command and logistics vehicles, and a new tactical aircraft for supporting their forces in Europe, while Air Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
needed a new aircraft to replace their somewhat motley collection of increasingly dated aircraft. Inter-service priorities were quickly decided.
First up was the Long Range Patrol Aircraft, eventually filled by the CP-140 Aurora
CP-140 Aurora
The Lockheed CP-140 Aurora is a maritime patrol aircraft operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The aircraft is based on the Lockheed P-3 Orion airframe, but mounts the electronics suite of the S-3 Viking...
, a modified version of the P-3 Orion
P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The aircraft is easily recognizable by its distinctive tail stinger or...
. Problems that arose during the LRPA program were particularly worrying for the following programs. LRPA had initially settled on the Orion in November 1975, but the program was cancelled in May 1976, before being re-instated once again. In 1978 the Minister of Supply and Services, Jean-Pierre Goyer
Jean-Pierre Goyer
Jean-Pierre Goyer, PC, QC is a lawyer and former Canadian Cabinet minister.Goyer was born in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, the son of Gilbert and Marie-Ange Goyer. He graduated from the University of Montreal....
, stated that he had been deliberately misled on the topic, a claim that led to a slander lawsuit. A breakdown in communications between the various departments led to the budget request being $300 million smaller than was needed in startup costs, delaying service entry. Adding to the program's woes, the procurement procedure resulted in the addition of various "required features" that led to the aircraft's sensor suite being modified at considerable expense, a problem that is all-too-common in military circles known as "gold plating".
NFA
The need for a new high-performance fighter was next on the list of priorities for the Department of National DefenceDepartment of National Defence (Canada)
The Department of National Defence , frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for all matters concerning the defence of Canada...
(DND). With the problems in the LRPA still ongoing, it was imperative that the NFA program avoid these issues at all costs. There was serious concern that the DND would be considered incapable of handling its newly increased budget if LRPA-like problems continued. In this case, they might be stripped of their direction over the purchasing process, or at least face a shake up within the ranks. Immediately following the NFA program would be the new patrol frigate purchase, and if NFA ran into the same sorts of problems as LRPA, the frigate program might suffer from budgetary constraints, downsizing, or potential cancellation.
In order to avoid these possibilities, the DND put into place a number of new policies for the NFA program aimed at ensuring the budget would come out as predicted. For one, NFA demanded that whatever aircraft was selected would have to be completely "off the shelf", in order to avoid "gold plating" problems that had driven up the price of the CP-140. Additionally, the NFA project would request a budget that included all costs; training, spares, even the 12% import taxes that would have to be paid to the Canadian Department of Finance and any similar fees that might have to be paid to the foreign government to offset research and development they had spent on the program.
Finally, the NFA program office was set up to ensure that all three stakeholders would have their requirements fairly presented in the final proposal. Under LRPA the various departments reported to the DND, but under NFA they all co-managed a new NFA Program Office (NFA/PO). This ensured that the technical requirements of the DND would not override the budgetary ones of the Department of Supply and Services (DSS) or the industrial benefits package required by the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce (DITC). All three would be considered peers, and their work would be overseen by a similar group of deputy ministers from External Affairs, the Treasury Board and the Privy Council Office.
Selection process
The existing air force fleet consisted of the CF-101 VoodooCF-101 Voodoo
The CF-101 Voodoo was an all-weather interceptor aircraft operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Forces between 1961 and 1984. They were manufactured by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri for the United States Air Force , and later sold to Canada...
as its primary all-weather interceptor
Interceptor aircraft
An interceptor aircraft is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to prevent missions of enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Interceptors generally rely on high speed and powerful armament in order to complete their mission as quickly as possible and set up...
for duties within the NORAD framework, the CF-104 Starfighter
Canadair CF-104
The Canadair CF-104 Starfighter was a modified version of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter aircraft built in Canada by Canadair under licence...
as its primary day fighter
Day fighter
A day fighter is a fighter aircraft equipped only to fight during the day. More specifically, it refers to a multi-purpose aircraft that does not include equipment for fighting at night , although it is sometimes used to refer to some interceptors as well.Examples of planes that were classified as...
and tactical attack aircraft
Ground attack aircraft
Ground-attack aircraft are military aircraft with primary role of attacking targets on the ground with greater precision than bombers and prepared to face stronger low-level air defense...
in Europe, and the CF-116 Freedom Fighter supplementing both in multiple roles. The Voodoo was by this point rather outdated, and growing increasingly expensive to operate and maintain its tube-based electronics. None of its primary systems -missiles, radar or engines- were still being used in other operational aircraft, and spares had to be taken from mothballed examples. The CF-104s were originally the day counterpart to the Voodoos and had also served a nuclear-strike role when that was the basis for most military thinking in NATO. Since 1971 the Canadian nuclear role had been abandoned, and since then the F-104's had switched primarily to a low-level strike role that they were not particularly well suited to. The CF-5 was considerably more modern, but was a much simpler aircraft that was useful primarily in the light strike role.
NFA's goal was to select a single multi-purpose aircraft that could fill all of the roles of the existing fleet, while also reducing operational costs and improving availability and capability. In the fifteen years since the F-104s had been purchased the advancements in engines, aerodynamics and especially mission electronics allowed for these roles to be combined in multirole aircraft. A number of such designs were in the process of being introduced by air forces around the world. Of particular interest was the recent Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program in the United States that had produced the F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-16 Fighting Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...
, an aircraft of such versatility that it had rapidly generated orders from around the world in what PBS described as "The Sale of the Century."
In September 1977 the NFA office published a four-volume Request For Proposals (RFP), each volume outlining one area of interest. These included the technical specifications, risk mitigation, costs, the industrial benefit program and contractual obligations. In a subsequent decision, the budget was limited to around $2.34 billion Canadian dollars to purchase between 130 and 150 of the winner of the competition. It should be noted that this represented a significant decrease in fleet numbers; there were 132 Voodoos and 200 Starfighters being replaced by less than half that number of aircraft. Cabinet officially approved the NFA purchases on 27 November 1977.
The RFP was sent to six companies who had aircraft that might fit the requirements; Grumman's F-14 Tomcat
F-14 Tomcat
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental program following the collapse of the F-111B project...
, McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
' (McD) F-15 Eagle
F-15 Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is considered among the most successful modern fighters with over 100 aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights...
and F/A-18 Hornet
F/A-18 Hornet
The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to dogfight and attack ground targets . Designed by McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, the F/A-18 was derived from the latter's YF-17 in the 1970s for use by the United States Navy and...
, Northrop
Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation was a leading United States aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in 1994. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, although only a few of these have entered service.-History:Jack...
's version of the F-18, the F-18L, General Dynamics' F-16, Dassault-Breguet's Mirage F1 and the Panavia Tornado
Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy...
. The NFA quickly eliminated the F-14, F-15, and the Tornado due to the high purchase prices. The F1 was withdrawn as it could not compete with the others in performance terms, but Dassault instead proposed the Mirage 2000 in its place. However their proposal was not received by the 1 February 1978 cutoff date. So, by 1978, the New Fighter Aircraft competitors were short listed to just two aircraft; the F-16 and two versions of the F-18.
A contender is eliminated
VFAX
VFAX for Naval Fighter Attack Experimental was actually two specifications for two US Naval fighter projects. The first was for a low cost lightweight complement for the F-111B which could replace the F-4 Phantom II for air superiority, escort, and ground attack missions in the early 1960s. This...
program, Congress instead cancelled VFAX and demanded that the Navy use one of the LWF aircraft under a new program called the "Navy Air Combat Fighter" (NACF). Accordingly, the Navy asked for proposals for versions of the two aircraft with various carrier-based features, including arrestor hooks, catapult bars, folding wings and dramatically strengthened landing gear and fuselage. Another requirement was that the entries would have to be built by companies with recent naval aircraft experience, but neither General Dynamics nor Northrop had a production carrier aircraft for some time. Both partnered with other companies for the modified design; General Dynamics with Ling-Temco-Vought
Ling-Temco-Vought
Ling-Temco-Vought was a large U.S. conglomerate which existed from 1969 to 2000. At its peak, its component parts were involved in the aerospace industry, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, the airline industry, meat packing, car rentals and pharmaceuticals, among other...
for the F-16N, and Northrop with McDonnell for the F-18.
Among the many features that a naval aircraft requires is one that is not obvious at first glance, the ability to quickly "spool up" their engines to full power. If the aircraft misses the arrester wires as it attempts to land on a carrier, there is no way that it can stop in time and must immediately add power for a go-arround. This is not a minor concern; it occurs so commonly that such a landing has its own name, a "bolter
Bolter (aviation)
In naval aviation, a bolter is when an aircraft attempting to land on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier touches down, but fails to catch an arrestor cable and come to a stop...
". Generally speaking, the rate that an engine can be spooled up is roughly a function of its cross-sectional size, so an otherwise identical aircraft mounting two smaller engines instead of one larger one will typically have much better throttle response. For this reason, among others, the Navy favored the two-engine layout of the F-18 from the start, and selected it as the winner of NACF in 1976.
When the two companies joined forces for the F-18, part of the agreement was that Northrop would develop a land-based version of the F-18 that removed the naval equipment and lightened the airframe. The resulting F-18L was about 30% lighter than the F-18A, about take-off weight as opposed to and as a result had considerably better performance and range. The aircraft was over 80% similar otherwise, and would be built on the same production lines. Naval versions would be built 60% by McDonnell and 40% by Northrop, while the land versions would reverse this arrangement.
Like the US Navy, the upper upper echelons of Canada's Air Command also favoured two engines, although for different reasons. Additionally, Air Command was adamant about having the ability to fire the AIM-7 Sparrow
AIM-7 Sparrow
The AIM-7 Sparrow is an American, medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy and United States Marine Corps, as well as various allied air forces and navies. Sparrow and its derivatives were the West's principal beyond visual...
missile, a medium-range bomber destroyer. Neither the F-16 or F-17 supported the Sparrow, in keeping with their short-range "dogfighter" role as originally envisioned. The US Navy had also demanded support for the Sparrow, as they were less interested in fighter-to-fighter combat as they were in long-range interception of both aircraft and anti-shipping missiles. Both LWF's studied supporting longer-range radar as part of their naval modifications, but as the F-16 modification never proceeded beyond the mockup stage, only the F-18 actually added AIM-7 support. This put the two F-18 variants in the lead from the start.
From a strict technical point of view the F-18L was the best aircraft for the NFA program, with performance roughly equal to the F-16, Sparrow capability, and the twin-engine design the DND favored. Compared to the F-18A, its lower weight and resulting better range would also be very useful in the air defence role over Canada. The F-18L was also offered with a lucrative industrial program; Northrop agreed to move major portions of the F-18L project to Canada, including investing in carbon composite construction techniques to build the wings and tail sections. If accepted, Canada would become the primary construction site for all of these components, which meant that any additional orders for the F-18L from other countries would result in major export contracts for Canadian companies.
Unsurprisingly, DITC strongly favored the F-18L offer. However, contrary to the original conception of the NFA/PO, DITC had only two full-time staff in the office compared to dozens from DND and DSS. Both of the other groups expressed concerns about the offer. As there appeared to be no orders within the USA for the aircraft, any production run would be based on the potential Canadian order and any other exports. Several other countries had expressed a similar interest, notably Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, but none of these were a "sure thing." If these deals did not go through, Canada would be the only operator of the aircraft, something the DND considered completely unacceptable. Likewise, the DSS's primary interest was iron-clad contracts with predictable timeframes and budgets, and strongly supported the "off the shelf" requirement. Therefore in October 1978 the NFA office overrode the DITC's concerns and reduced the list to only the F-16 and F-18A, a decision that cabinet accepted on 23 November 1978.
At the time there was some talk of going ahead with the F-18L based on the potential Canadian order alone. Several other forces were in the process of looking at similar aircraft, and the upgrades carried out during the conversion from the F-17 to the F-18 made the F-18L a much more worthy competitor to the F-16 in the export market. However, Northrop found themselves constantly being outmaneuvered by McDonnell's sales team, who would make counteroffers whenever the F-18L was proposed for foreign sales. This eventually led to a lawsuit between the companies, which was settled in 1985 with McDonnell Douglas agreeing to pay Northrop $50 million for complete rights to the design without admitting wrongdoing. By then Northrop had ended work on F-18L.
Selecting the winner
With the elimination of the F-18L on 23 November, the NFA program started moving into its final phase. In order to expedite the eventual order, the NFA office started negotiating contracts with both companies with the understanding that one would be selected once a final decision had been made.Douglas (prior to the formation of McDonnell Douglas) had been building tail assemblies for the DC-9
McDonnell Douglas DC-9
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner. It was first manufactured in 1965 with its maiden flight later that year. The DC-9 was designed for frequent, short flights. The final DC-9 was delivered in October 1982.The DC-9 was followed in subsequent modified forms by...
at the former Avro Canada
Avro Canada
Commonly known as Avro Canada, this company started in 1945 as an aircraft plant and became within thirteen years the third-largest company in Canada, one of the largest 100 companies in the world, and directly employing over 50,000...
factories at the Toronto International Airport for some time. Their industrial offset program would include modernizing the plants and moving in additional work to include KC-10
KC-10 Extender
The McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender is the military adaptation of the three-engined DC-10 airliner for the United States Air Force . The KC-10 incorporates military-specific equipment for its primary roles of transport and aerial refueling. It was developed to supplement the KC-135 Stratotanker...
and MD-11
McDonnell Douglas MD-11
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is a three-engine medium- to long-range widebody jet airliner, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas and, later, by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Based on the DC-10, it features a stretched fuselage, increased wingspan with winglets, refined airfoils on the wing and smaller...
wings, MD-80 wings, empennage and cabin floors, and F/A-18 side panels and pylons.
This proposal was greatly worrying to the DITC, and they became much more active in the negotiations. Their concern was based on existing Defence Production Sharing Agreement
Defence Production Sharing Agreement
The Defence Production Sharing Agreement is a bilateral trade agreement between the United States and Canada that aims to balance the amount of military cross-border buying in order to avoid trade imbalances. Since its signing in 1956, it has led to a number of US companies sending military...
(DPSA) between the US and Canada that was put in place to balance the amount of trade in military goods between the countries. A major purchase like the NFA meant the US either had to buy a similar amount of military equipment from Canada, or alternately offset the purchase though military production in Canada. A program like Northop's was purely military in nature, so any production in Canada would be counted against this balance, but McD's offer was primarily in civilian goods, which had to be accounted separately. The DITC was concerned that the US government would have to be convinced to re-negotiate the agreement in this case, or make a large military purchase. Neither option seemed straightforward, and would have placed a burden on the DITC's dealings in the future.
While the negotiations with McD were continuing, Air Canada
Air Canada
Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...
announced it was purchasing the Lockheed L-1011
Lockheed L-1011
The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, commonly referred to as the L-1011 or TriStar, is a medium-to-long range, widebody passenger trijet airliner. It was the third widebody airliner to enter commercial operations, following the Boeing 747 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Between 1968 and 1984, Lockheed...
to add to its wide-body fleet. This greatly angered McD CEO James Smith McDonnell
James Smith McDonnell
James Smith "Mac" McDonnell was an American aviation pioneer and founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, later McDonnell Douglas.-Early life:...
, who personally threatened to cancel the entire agreement up to that point. Neither DND and DSS wanted this to happen, and wanted both aircraft to remain in contention. However, their concerns were later muted when a report was leaked that suggested the F-18 was favored to win the NFA, and it appeared that the DITC's concerns were going to be overridden. The company became much less vocal in the following proceedings.
Contract negotiations went on throughout 1978 and 1979, continuing through the federal elections
Canadian federal election, 1979
The Canadian federal election of 1979 was held on May 22, 1979 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 31st Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of Liberal Party of Canada after 11 years in power under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Joe Clark led the Progressive...
. The proposed contracts were finalized by June, when then new Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
minority government took power. A lengthy review of the contracts followed, and was completed in early December. These were tabled to be signed off on 14 December, but on the 13th the Conservatives failed a vote of non-confidence and the issue was put aside. The Liberals
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
regained power in the ensuing elections
Canadian federal election, 1980
The Canadian federal election of 1980 was held on February 18, 1980 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 32nd Parliament of Canada...
, and on 19 February 1980 formal negotiations started again.
Rumours that the F-18 was the winner had surfaced by this point, and General Dynamics started a campaign to have the selection discarded. As part of their industrial program, the Pratt & Whitney F100
Pratt & Whitney F100
-External links:* * *...
engines used in the F-16 would be built at Pratt & Whitney Canada
Pratt & Whitney Canada
Pratt & Whitney Canada is a Canadian aircraft engine manufacturer. PWC's headquarters are in Longueuil, Quebec, just outside Montreal. It is a division of the larger US-based Pratt & Whitney , itself a business unit of United Technologies...
in Quebec, a major windfall. In late March René Lévesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
of the governing Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
publicly announced that the F-16 should be selected because it would provide Quebec with considerably more than the competing McDonnell Douglas offer. This led to a meeting between several interested parties on 9 April 1980, and after transferring several million dollars from Ontario to Quebec the objections disappeared.
The following day the F-18A was officially announced as the winner of the NFA program. On 16 April the contracts were signed, with a ceiling of US$2.369 billion for 137 aircraft, and an industrial package of C$2.453 billion invested by McDonnell Douglas in Canada over the period up to 1995.
Aftermath
The next day the government ran a series of advertisements in national newspapers to explain their choice. The arguments focussed primarily on the financial aspects of the deal. Despite the F-18's higher unit cost, the industrial program would more than pay for the entire program. Reasons for the selection listed by the Canadian Forces included two engines for reliability (considered essential for conducting Arctic sovereignty and over-the-water patrols), an excellent radar set, and a lower cost than the F-14 or F-15. Nevertheless the press was sceptical of the program, particularly its carrier-based nature, even though Canada had no aircraft carriers. As the CBC'sCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
As It Happens
As It Happens
As It Happens is a long-running interview show on CBC Radio One in Canada. Its 40th anniversary was celebrated on-air on 18 November 2008. It has been one of the most popular and acclaimed shows on CBC Radio; it is also distributed in the United States by Public Radio International.The bulk of the...
noted, it could not even fly from Toronto to Montreal without extra fuel.
In spite of outward appearances, the NFA selection was not a "sure thing". The contract had been left open to the very last minute and continued to see changes even in the weeks immediately before the selection was announced. Additionally, the F-14 almost ended up being purchased from Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, as their fleet was facing the prospect of falling into disuse due to a lack of spares in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
. Canadian diplomats tried to convince the Iranians to sell its fleet of eighty almost-new fighters at cut-rate prices. However, the negotiations fell through in the aftermath of the Canadian caper
Canadian caper
The "Canadian Caper" was the popular name given to the covert rescue by the Government of Canada of six American diplomats who evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran and taking of embassy personnel as hostages by the Iranians on November 4, 1979.- Sanctuary...
in which six American diplomats were smuggled out of Iran from the Canadian embassy.
A total of 138 CF-18 Hornet
CF-18 Hornet
The McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet is a Royal Canadian Air Force fighter aircraft, based on the American McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter. In 1980, the F/A-18 was selected as the winner of the New Fighter Aircraft competition, and a production order was awarded...
s were delivered to Canada from 1982 to 1988.