Canada to Get First Two Used Australian F-18 Fighter Jets in 2019

Canada will receive the first two of 18 used Australian F-18 fighter jets in 2019.

The first two used Australian F-18s to be delivered in 2019, Canadian procurement minister Carla Qualtrough was quoted as saying by Ottawa Citizen at the CANSEC military equipment trade show last week.

The final cost for the procurement is still not known although the government has set aside $500 million to buy 18 fighter jets.

Pat Finn, the Department of National Defence’s assistant deputy minister of materiel, recently noted that the Canadian government has received what’s called a letter of cost proposal on the proposed sale. He expects that a deal will be in place by the end of the year with deliveries to begin in the summer of 2019.

The Liberal government originally planned for the arrival of the first used aircraft in January 2019.

Australia needs the approval of the U.S. State Department to transfer the aircraft to Canada. Approval is needed because the F-18s were built in the U.S. with American technology.

The federal government has confirmed that the Australian aircraft will be operating alongside the RACF’s other CF-18s at Bagotville, Que., and Cold Lake, Alberta.  “The aircraft will be employed at 3 Wing Bagotville and 4 Wing Cold Lake,” the government noted earlier this year. “DND is currently reviewing infrastructure requirements to accommodate the additional aircraft. Any modifications are expected to be minimal as the supplemental jets are of similar age and design to the CF-18.”