Canada’s plan to buy 88 F-35 combat planes built by the United States faces significant challenges, including shooting costs, the shortage of trained pilots and the lack of critical infrastructure, according to a new report by the General Auditor Karen Hogan.
The Audit for the F-35 program is part of Hogan spring audits, published on Tuesday, which also found contracts granted to GC strategies for the Arrivecan application and other services regularly did not follow the appropriate processes or delivered value for money.
In December 2022, the Liberal Government announced that it had signed an agreement to buy 88 F-35 combat aircraft of the United States to replace the old Hornet fleet in Canada.
Hogan’s audit of the F-35 program focused on whether the National Defense Plan to acquire the Jets was scheduled and in the budget, finding significant challenges on both fronts.
“This is a large, several-year project that requires active and continuous management of the risks and costs to ensure that the CF-35 fleet can be put into service on time,” Hogan said in a statement.
According to the report, the cost of the F-35 program has increased to $ 27.7 billion, compared to the national defense of $ 19 billion announced in 2023. That is without taking into account the costs of essential infrastructure updates and purchases of advanced weapons.
Ensure the critical infrastructure, such as operational bases and weapons, such as missiles for the aircraft, will cost at least $ 5.5 billion, according to the audit.
Part of the reason for the increase in the basic costs of the program was that the national defense used obsolete cost estimates when it announced the agreement, but the global factors are also to blame.
“We found that an important part of the increase in updated cost estimates of the department of $ 27.7 billion was caused by global factors, specifically: increased inflation; fluctuations in exchange rates and a greater global demand for ammunition.”
The audit also said that “unforeseen infrastructure complexities” significantly affected national defense cost estimates.
Pilots and facilities
According to the audit, the construction and equipment of the main operation bases of the Fighter squad in Cold Lake, Alta., And Bagotville, which., They are more than three years ago.
The original plan was to have these bases in operation when Canada began receiving its first installment of F-35 in 2028, but that date has now been delayed at 2031.
The construction was delayed after the national defense determined that the design should be reworked to accommodate specific requirements of the F-35, he said.
With the main operational bases of the combatant squadron not suitable for service, the national defense was forced to develop an intermediate operations plan that involves using mobile facilities and renewing existing facilities.
The audit said that the need for an interim installation will increase the total cost of infrastructure planned for the combat aircraft program, but the cost of provisional measures was not available at the time of the audit.
While the growing costs and infrastructure delays are a challenge to “make the CF-35A fleet in full operation, the Royal Canadian Air Force will need more trained pilots,” added the Hogan report.
The audit also provided an update on when Canada can expect the delivery of its F-35. Initially, Canada left money for 16, a squad varies from 16 to 18 planes, but Lockheed Martin said he could only give Canada 12 short -term airplanes.
The first eight of those aircraft will be sent to the base of the Luke Air Force in Arizona between 2026 and 2027. The remaining 80 aircraft will be sent directly to Canada from 2028, and the last of the Jets is expected at some point in 2032 if Canada complies with the full contract.
A day after Portugal pointed out that he planned to get rid of his acquisition of F-35 in March, Canada announced that he will talk to rival aircraft manufacturers, since he considers potential alternatives to the stealthy fighter F-35 built by the United States.
The General Auditor Karen Hogan addresses the main setbacks, including a cost of $ 8 billion, to the Government’s plan to buy 88 F-35 combat planes on Tuesday.
There has been a support land among Canadians to kill the purchase of $ 19 billion and find planes that are not manufactured and maintained in the United States.
Defense Minister David McGuinty issued a statement by saying that “it will ensure that the recommendations of the AG are fully integrated and that the best value continues to be provided to Canadians.”
McGuinty said his government has already acted to try to mitigate the challenges indicated in the audit by:
- Update and refining the implementation to ensure that it remains on time.
- Review of cost estimates annually to better identify problems.
- Improve how the Government communicates progress in the F-35 project.
Arrivecan Application Contractor
Hogan’s audit also analyzed the contracts granted and payments made by federal organizations to GC strategies, focusing on whether the federal government received value for money and if the appropriate processes were followed.
Between April 2015 and March 2024, 31 federal organizations granted 106 contracts to GC strategies worth $ 92.7 million, of which approximately $ 64.5 million finally paid, said the audit.
Those $ 64.5 million include the value of the four GC strategies received to develop the Arrivecan application during the COVID -19 pandemic. Hogan’s report in February 2024 estimated that GC Strategies received $ 19.1 million for his work in Arrivecan.
In March 2024, the Federal Government suspended the security authorization of GC Strategies and no new contracts were granted to the company in fiscal year 2024–25.
“The findings in this audit are echoed by those of previous audits, where we find deficiencies in how public servants applied federal acquisition rules,” Hogan said in a statement.
“There are no recommendations in this report because I do not believe that the government needs more acquisition rules. Rather, federal organizations must ensure that the rules that exist are understood and continue.”
The federal control agency responsible for examining irregularities in the public sector says that the office is launching a “investigation” in relation to the Arrivecan application controversy, the latest research on the scandal plagued project.
Hogan’s audit included an analysis of a randomly selected sample of the contracts granted to GC strategies, excluding Arrivecan contracts, finding that in a fifth case, the company’s work continued without adequate security authorizations.
The audit said that in 94 percent of the contracts examined, the time sheets were used as a monitoring tool by the relevant government department. But in 58 percent of these cases, the time sheets were accepted with “poorly documented work descriptions” or time leaves were not collected at all.
“Without guaranteeing the reception of the time sheets of all the resources of the contract, the department could not verify who worked in the contract and what work completed the resources of the contract,” he said.
The audit also found that in a third of the contracts he examined, the federal government could not show GC strategies “had the experience and qualifications necessary to complete the required work”, or if the company’s rate was paid reflected its ability to do the assigned work.
“We discover that neither the public services and the acquisitions of Canada, nor any other federal organization, collect information about the government about the paid rates and the performance of the supplier,” he said.
“This type of information would help federal organizations assess whether the supplier is qualified to carry out the work and validate that the covered fees are not higher than the market rates,” the report added.
Hogan’s report concluded that when it was the work granted “to GC strategies and other companies incorporated by their co -founders … no value for these contracts was obtained.”
