Q-1173 , 42nd Parliament, 1st session December 3, 2015, to September 11, 2019

With regard to the U.S. State Department’s approval of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Canada of ten F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft, eight F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft, and associated parts and spare equipment as issued on September 12, 2017: (a) what is the government’s projected life span of the 18 aircraft; (b) what is the government’s projected cost for the annual operation of the 18 aircraft; (c) what is the government’s projected cost for the operation of the 18 aircraft over the projected life span; (d) what is the government’s projected cost for the annual maintenance of the 18 aircraft; (e) what is the government’s projected maintenance cost over the projected life span of the 18 aircraft; (f) what additional infrastructure will have to be installed at Canadian Armed Forces bases to accommodate the training, operation, and maintenance of the 18 aircraft; (g) what current infrastructure will have to be modernized in order to accommodate the training, operation, and maintenance of the 18 aircraft; (h) what is the projected cost for the additional and modernized infrastructure; (i) what is the anticipated timeline to train current CF-18 Hornet pilots to operate (i) the F/A-18E, (ii) the F/A-18F; (j) what is the anticipated timeline to train current CF-18 maintenance crews to work on (i) the F/A-18E, (ii) the F/A-18F; (k) what analysis was done to determine the interoperability of the 18 aircraft with NATO allies; (l) for each of the above questions, did the government perform the same analysis and or cost estimation for the aircraft manufacturers that provided a response to the CF-18 Replacement Industry Consultation Questions, Summer 2016; and (m) what other aircraft did the government study as a potential interim purchase?