OTTAWA, March 28 (Reuters) – Canada has picked Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) as the popular bidder to produce 88 new fighter jets, Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi stated Monday, in a transparent signal the U.S. firm is about to win the multibillion-dollar contract.
The transfer signifies Canada – underneath stress to spice up protection spending because the warfare in Ukraine rages – is nearer to creating a call that has dragged out for greater than a decade.
“This announcement marks one other necessary milestone in Canada’s aggressive course of to buy trendy fighter jets for the Royal Canadian Air Power,” Tassi stated.
Canada has been attempting unsuccessfully for greater than a decade to interchange its growing old F-18 fighters. The previous Conservative administration stated in 2010 that it could purchase 65 F-35 jets however later scrapped the choice, triggering years of delays and evaluations.
“The F-35 is in operational use by NORAD and NATO companions in missions across the globe. It has confirmed to be a mature, succesful and interoperable plane and that’s the reason we’re transferring to the finalization part of this procurement,” Protection Minister Anita Anand, talking alongside Tassi, informed reporters.
The federal authorities of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will now solely maintain detailed talks with Lockheed Martin. Ottawa says it hopes to award the contract this 12 months and take first deliveries in 2025.
Protection sources had lengthy wager on the U.S. firm, given Canada belongs to the consortium that developed its F-35 jet and the very fact the aircraft is the navy’s first selection. Ottawa says the contract might be value as much as C$19 billion ($15.10 billion).
“We sit up for persevering with our partnership with Canadian business to ship and maintain the F-35 for the Royal Canadian Air Power,” Lockheed Martin Canada Chief Govt Lorraine Ben stated in a press release.
If the negotiations for some motive fail, the federal government will flip to Sweden’s Saab (SAABb.ST), the opposite contender.
“Whereas we preserve our place that Saab introduced one of the best provide for the Future Fighter Functionality Undertaking, we respect the choice of the federal government of Canada,” the Swedish firm stated in a press release, including that it could proceed to collaborate with Canada in present and future packages.
Canada although has a protracted historical past of utilizing U.S. navy tools and, not like Sweden, belongs to each NATO and NORAD, the North American protection group.
Trudeau got here to energy in 2015 vowing to not purchase the F-35 as too costly however has shifted his place.
The apparent various would have been Boeing Co (BA.N) but it surely fell out of favor after taking commerce motion in opposition to Canadian rival Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) and was excluded from the competitors final December. learn extra
($1 = 1.2586 Canadian {dollars})
Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa and extra reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; modifying by John Stonestreet, Jonathan Oatis and Tomasz Janowski
: .
