(Ottawa) The purchase and maintenance of the 88 F-35 fighter jets that Canada plans to acquire will cost some $74 billion over a period of 45 years, according to a study by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PDB), Yves Giroux , published Thursday.
In this study, the PBO takes into account acquisition costs (19.8 billion) as well as operation and maintenance costs (53.8 billion) to arrive at this estimate.
The Trudeau government announced in March 2022 that it planned to purchase the F-35 fighter jets to replace the aging CF-18 fleet. In principle, the first planes manufactured by the Lockheed Martin company should be delivered from 2025. The last planes from the order of 88 planes are expected in 2032.
“The estimated costs are based on an assumed lifespan of 30 years for each aircraft and an annual quota of approximately 167 flight hours for each aircraft, which represents an annual quota of approximately 14,700 flight hours under operating conditions. permanent for the fleet of 88 aircraft,” underlines the DPB in its analysis.
Mr. Giroux adds in the costs of his analysis 200 million for the costs linked to the development stage and the same sum for the costs linked to the dismantling stage of the devices, which should begin in 2055-2056, i.e. end of the useful life of the first aircraft obtained by the Ministry of Defense.
During the 2015 federal elections, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals promised never to buy the F-35 planes that Stephen Harper’s government had in its sights and to launch a new call for tenders. At the time, Canada planned to purchase 65 stealth planes.
But the Trudeau government finally reversed course last year, after issuing a call for tenders, when it became clear that the F-35 planes represented the best option to replace the CF-18 fleet. An agreement was reached between the Government of Canada and the American government as well as with suppliers Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney at the beginning of the year.