Engagement with Industry and Allied Partners

November 22, 2016 – Ottawa – Government of Canada

Over the summer of 2016, Canada consulted with governments and fighter aircraft manufacturers in allied and partner countries with aircraft currently or scheduled to be in production, to gather information on costs, aircraft capabilities, delivery times, and economic benefits to Canada for various fighter aircraft.

Consultation with Aircraft Manufacturers

Brief timeline of the summer consultation process:

• Consultations began on July 6, 2016, and were conducted using various methods, such as: teleconferences, a WebX presentation, one-on-one meetings and questionnaires.
• On July 7, 2016, the Government provided a 38-page questionnaire to five aircraft manufacturers, Boeing, Dassault, Eurofighter, Lockheed-Martin and Saab, interested in supplying their fighter to replace Canada's CF-18s.
• The questionnaire sought information from manufacturers about procurement and life-cycle costs, readiness, current and planned production numbers, and potential economic benefits to Canada. The Government also asked manufacturers how their aircraft would perform in conducting missions, such as flying from Cold Lake, Alberta, to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, which is about 2,000 kilometres north.
• Meetings were held with aircraft manufacturers and foreign governments at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK during the week of July 11, 2016.
• Canada informed manufacturers through this process that information gathered would help inform procurement options.
• All five companies provided a response by July 29, 2016, and follow-up meetings with aircraft manufacturers were held throughout the month of August in Ottawa.

The questionnaire is available online and can be found at the following location: http://www.forces.gc.ca/assets/FORCES_Internet/docs/en/business-equipment/industry-consultation-questionnaire.pdf

Consultation with Allied and Partner Governments

In certain cases, Governments are the only supplier of goods and/or services related to a particular aircraft, or may play a significant role in the sale of advanced technologies or the provision of services by their industries to foreign governments. As such, Canada also consulted governments in allied and partner countries regarding their experiences with fighter aircraft procurements and lessons learned through recent processes and/or decisions.

Review and Analysis of Information

Since the summer, subject matter experts across Government departments have conducted an extensive analysis of the information received.

In light of our decision, in 2017 the Government of Canada will continue its dialogue with industry in order to collect more detailed information on timelines, capabilities, costing, and economic benefits associated with potential contender aircraft to inform the next steps of the competition, such as the bid solicitation documents.

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Related Products

• News Release: Canada announces plan to replace fighter jet fleet
• Backgrounder: The Role of Canada’s CF-18 Fighter Fleet
• Backgrounder: The Procurement Process Defined: Replacing Canada’s CF-18 Fleet
• Backgrounder: Ensuring Economic Benefits for Canada

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