24 years! Why Canada took so long to buy F-35 (in a nutshell)

Canada is buying the F-35. For real this time. After about 24y of being a Tier 2 partner of the Joint Strike Fighter Program (JSF), the Lockheed Martin produced 5th generation fighter finds itself in the hands of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). In the selection saga, it went from a single choice to a competition format with interim solutions of Hornet and Super Hornet in the mix, over to a final stand-off against Saab Gripen. Join Chris as the talks to Richard Shimooka from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) about two decades of political twists and turns. - Check out my books - Ju 87 Stuka - http://stukabook.com STG-44 Assault Platoon - http://sturmzug.com German Panzer Company 1941 - http://www.hdv470-7.com/ Achtung Panzer? Zur Panzerwaffe der Wehrmacht - http://panzerkonferenz.de/ - Support - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/MilAvHistory Channel Memberships: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmpahmxWXajV0-tuMMzSzAg/join PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/MilAvHis - Social Media - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MilAvHistory Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milaviationhistory/ - Sources - Richard Shimooka https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/cm-expert/richard-shimooka/ - Berthiaume, Lee; Canada not sending fighter jets to Europe next year as Air Force rearms, regroups, 14 Dec 2022. available at https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canada-not-sending-fighter-jets-to-europe-next-year-as-air-force/ [last accessed 11/01/2023]. Defense Deconstructed Podcast, Future Fighter Capability: F-35, 4 Feb 2022, available at https://www.cgai.ca/future_fighter_capability_f35 [last accessed 11/01/2023]. GovCanada; Announcement regarding the F-35 acquisition, 9 Jan 2023, available at https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2023/01/announcement-regarding-the-f-35-acquisition.html [last accessed 11/01/2023]. GovCanada; Canada finalizes agreement to purchase new fighter jets for Royal Canadian Air Force, 9 Jan 2023, available at https://www.canada.ca/en/public-services-procurement/news/2023/01/canada-finalizes-agreement-to-purchase-new-fighter-jets-for-royal-canadian-air-force.html [last accessed 11/01/2023]. Shimooka, Richard; Amateur Hour: The Interim Super Hornet Saga and the Perils of Prioritizing Politics Over Defence, MLI Publication, January 2018, available at https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/mli-files/pdf/MLICommentary_Shimooka_Jan2018_webreadyF.pdf [last accessed 11/01/2023]. Shimooka, Richard; The Catastrophe: Assessing the Damage from Canada’s Fighter Replacement Fiasco, MLI Publication, May 2019, available at https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/mli-files/pdf/20190502_MLI_COMMENTARY_Shimooka_FWeb.pdf [last accessed 11/01/2023]. Shimooka, Richard; The Forth Dimension: The F-35 Program, Defence Procurement, and the Conservative, CDA Institute Vimy Paper No. 33, Sept 2016, available at https://cdainstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Vimy_Paper_33.pdf [last accessed 11/01/2023]. Stephenson, Alan; Gaming the CF-18 Fighter Replacement: The Politicizing of a Military Procurement, Dec 2017, Canadian Global Affairs Institute, available at https://www.cgai.ca/gaming_the_cf_18_fighter_replacement_the_politicizing_of_a_military_procurement [last accessed 11/01/2023]. Visuals: DoD - Timecodes - 00:00 - Canada buys F-35 00:54 - 1998: The Saga begins 09:39 - 2010: 1st decision to buy 12:43 - Audits and working bodies: special political treatment? 16:11 - 2014: A first deal is made 19:02 - Deal turns into a scandal so no F-35 20:39 - 2015: Election and government change (Harper - Trudeau) 24:29 - I get confused (and interrupt like a muppet): suddenly Canada wants Super Hornet as an interim solution 26:46 - Intermission 27:37 - 2016/2017: The plan changes again and now Australian Hornets appear, also pilot retention problems 33:21 - More pilot and crew retention problems 35:20 - 2016/2017: No (real) progress towards a fighter competition 39:03 - 2018: Competition starts 40:51 - Quick explainer: What are offsets 41:26 - Competition: Super Hornet, Gripen and F-35 45:04 - Changes in requirements and scoring - Super Hornet eliminated 49:09 - Range requirements 50:39 - 2021/2022: Final selection 53:10 - Financial benefits: Partner Status vs Offsets 58:18 - 2022: Final deal - Audio - Music and Sfx from Epidemic Sound