Rethinking the F-35s

By Bill Carr, Ottawa Citizen April 13, 2011

Winslow Wheeler's suggestion that we start over on the fighter jet
program makes a lot of sense. And he's neither a Canadian Liberal nor
Conservative. In a nut shell, he puts to bed the story that we have no
choice but to commit by contract for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
without a formal bidding process to examine other possible contenders
for the program. As he notes, the unknowns about the aircraft include
not only costs, but also basic performance and program timings. These
program management and technical problems have caused U.S. air force and
marine corps initial operating dates to be delayed to 2017. Ours? Nobody
can say with certainty, but obviously it will be later. And so will
program payments if we decide to go ahead.
BILL CARR, Kanata
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