By 2030 Canada was going to decide what would replace the CP-140 long range Anti-Submarine Warfare [ASW] aircraft. The DND planned a competition to "assess needs and
products", but because America has been complaining to the PM about
Canada being shit at natsec, the logical move was to buy some American
shit to hopefully shut them up. In an almost singularly odd move, the baksheesh to America was to buy Boeing P-8s, the 737 based ASW aircraft.
This move was objected to by everybody
Like the premiers of the two biggest provinces asked for a competition,
the standing committee on defense unanimously asked for a competition, the Canadian
arms industry has been apoplectic to be cut out of not only a major purchase, but a major purchase where Canada is in fact quite technologically capable at, ASW warfare.
Which, naturally, the P-8 doesn't use
There's also the CP-140 Aurora (Canuk Orion), which is just finishing up
a $400 million dollar upgrade. This was to keep the fleet viable...well
they say 2040, I think "into the 2030s" a bit more likely
The current defense minister was warned not to mention to Boeing
that mostly Canadian technology upgraded the CP-140, and that the CP-140
recently won a ASW completion, beating out several other nations flying
... P-8s.
So this is another shit procurement, one that is twice as baffling as Boeing was declared Persona non grata
in Canada after the whole "teaming up with a piece of malignant candy
corn to try and stop a competitor aircraft to its clapped-out 737 from
appearing". This totally failed though Bombardier earned literally no
money from the several billion dollar development process due to
unrelated incompetence, despite having the Fed fully having planned out
its parry for the acts of evil candy corn
(Sidebar to those that know: I know Bombardier is kinda like Arrow Air
in the 1980s or the R101, such a mess you can just pick a cause as to
why a disaster happened, but if somebody could explain to me how you
successfully develop an modern airliner and then earn no money from
that, please tell me)
Speaking of Bombardier
They made a lot of noise that they could have entered the competition as originally scheduled with a new ASW aircraft [said aircraft is a repurposed bizjet]
Which I'm kinda skeptical of, simply because 1) it's not developed yet,
and 2) it's a repurposed biz jet, and maybe this is wrong of me, but I
think the size of the CP-140 / P-8 speak to a greater capability simply
because you can have more dudes working and longer flight times.
Here's a picture, though:
So couple notes: one ignore the livery, Canada will never fly these.
Second, Canada announced a few days ago it was totally gonna help sell
the thing to other nations. Which 1) when do you not try and help sell Bombardier projects, and 2) you know what would really help here? THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN USING THE THINGS
The Fed did claim this was gonna totes make money for Canadian industry
at the press announcement (not anybody in Defense Industries and ASW
warfare obviously) and they were pressed on that point, and they said
literally nothing in the way of details. Because it was a lie.
So:
1. The person who said "let's get the Americans to shut up by buying some of their shit" really didn't know shit about fuck;
2. Once this unforced error was made, the fed tried to get Bombardier to shut up with a hand-waving promise about "help later;"
3. When basically all the people who did know about airplanes, ASW
warfare, Canada's relative strength to same, the result was to object
and say holy shit no, let's think about this, the response was to sign
shit as fast as possible, because obviously the problem here is that
these people won't shut up;
4. all of this was pointless.
Number 4 follows because the original impulse was to get America to shut
up about Canadian incompetence at NatSec, which is in fact true (in
part because of major procurement decisions happening on a whim then
continuing because somebody can't admit to making a mistake ever) so
really this purchase CONFIRMS American complains, not ameliorate them.
PS> Cameron Ortis guilty on all counts, turns out his story of "I was
engaging in a SECRET intel operation by selling Canada's secrets to
criminals" was not a good story
Sober second thought (12-22-23)
In retrospect, this might be an example of Canada making the right choice for a dumb reason.
While The CP-140 was still working, it was going to need to be replaced by 2030. While a competition would have been better (and given us a chance to buy Kawasaki P-1s) the Boeing P-8 is a good choice that is, after all, used by many nations. The airframes are common as hell, and thus easy to service. With all the onboard equipment shared with the US, NATO and SEATO, it is the Boeing 737 of onboard military sensors and equipment.
I have approximately zero faith in the ability of the modern Boeing to do anything new with competence, as the 737 Max scandal, not to mention the complete hollowing out of their manufacturing and engineering base for short term profits, has wrecked a once great company. Fun fact, since 2014 Boeing has payed $20 billion to the US government in contract penalties because of their sheer inability to do what they said they were going to do. So while it's weird that Canada would rush to do business with them, the P-8 is at least a known property, and the whole "skipping Canada's procurement processes" has been about the only way Canada can do these things successfully.
The American political angle I now get. It's an election year; contract orders for the US arms industry is good economic news. If America wants to help Canada stop being so terrible at National Security, it is important the American government remain free of administrations that don't know the meaning of the term.
In short, even a blind beaver find an acorn now and then.
