Future Fighter Capability Project
Context
As part of the Government of Canada’s reaffirmed commitment to invest in Canada’s military, as announced in the 2017 Defence Policy, “Strong, Secure, Engaged”, the Government launched an open and transparent competition in December 2017 to permanently replace Canada’s fighter fleet with 88 advanced jets—the Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP).
All questions related to capability gap, security and interoperability requirements, costs, Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report on lifecycle costs of the Australian F/A-18s and Canada’s participation in the Joint Strike Fighter Program should be answered by the Minister of National Defence (DND).
All questions related to the Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy and the development of evaluation criteria to assess harm to Canada’s economic interests should be answered by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED).
All questions related to trade issues should be answered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Suggested Response
- The Government is committed to ensuring that members of the Canadian Armed Forces have the equipment they need to do their jobs and protect Canadians, while maximizing economic benefits for the country.
- The Government delivered on its promise to launch an open and transparent competition to replace Canada's fighter fleet with 88 advanced jets, and we are making great progress.
- The formal request for proposal was released in July 2019 and proposals are due in spring 2020. Extensive engagement with potential bidders led to a large number of improvements across all areas of the document, which remove barriers to suppliers and will strengthen the proposals that Canada receives.
- Contract award is anticipated in 2022, with the first replacement aircraft delivered as early as 2025.
Background
In June 2017, Canada’s Defence Policy confirmed a fleet size of 88 advanced fighter aircraft to replace the current CF-18s. The Government launched a procurement process for the future fighter aircraft in December 2017. Officials conducted extensive industry engagement with suppliers to maximize the likelihood that Canada receives competitive proposals, and with Canadian industry to ensure that they are well positioned to participate in the procurement.
In November 2018, France-Dassault Aviation officially withdrew from the competitive process.
In July 2019, the request for proposal was shared with the eligible suppliers.
In August 2019, UK-Airbus also withdrew from the competition.
Next steps
On October 4, 2019, Canada received Preliminary Security Offers from the remaining three eligible suppliers, outlining how the suppliers intend to meet Canada’s security and interoperability requirements. Canada will assess these offers and provide feedback to the suppliers. This approach will enable the suppliers to address the feedback within their initial proposals, which are expected in spring 2020.
Following evaluation of the initial proposals, a dialogue phase will be conducted with one or more compliant bidders starting in winter 2020 to address any gaps and risks for final proposals.
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