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Retired RCAF commanders flag pilot numbers as weak point in Liberals' jet plan

Last Updated Dec 23, 2016 at 3:00 pm MDT

OTTAWA – Two former Royal Canadian Air Force commanders are raising questions about the Liberal government’s rush to buy “interim” fighter jets, saying there won’t be enough pilots to fly the planes for years to come.

Retired lieutenant-generals Kenneth Pennie and Andre Deschamps say that defeats the purpose of acquiring Super Hornets as a stop-gap measure, and running a full competition now makes more sense.

“Trying to do a short-term Band-Aid is not going to be helpful,” said Deschamps, who commanded the air force from 2009-2012.

“The only thing that’s going to work to address the gap is to finish off the competition process, pick a winner, and implement it. Then you can start addressing this gap concern.”

The government announced last month it wants to buy 18 Super Hornets before a competition can be held in five years to find a replacement for the air force’s aging CF-18 fighter jets.

The Super Hornets are needed because the air force doesn’t have enough jets to meet the government’s recent order that it be ready to defend North America and contribute to NATO at the same time.

In separate interviews with The Canadian Press, Pennie and Deschamps welcomed any move to increase the size of the air force’s fighter-jet fleet after years of budget cuts and attrition.

But they said such an expansion cannot happen overnight, even with the rushed purchase of new Super Hornets, because of the need for more trained personnel.

The air force has struggled to get enough aspiring top guns and technicians to fly the military’s 76 CF-18s even without 18 new cockpits to fill.

The personnel shortage got so bad that at one point the air force bent minimum medical standards such as vision and hearing requirements to retain enough trained pilots.

“We’re barely producing the number of pilots we need to produce right now for the size of the air force we have,” said Deschamps, who as RCAF commander recommended Canada buy the F-35 stealth fighter and has advised several fighter-jet manufacturers since leaving the military.

National Defence would not comment on current personnel levels, citing national security.

It also has not said when the Super Hornets are expected to be bought and delivered from U.S. aerospace giant Boeing Co.

“It would be premature to discuss timelines at this time, as discussions with the United States government and Boeing are ongoing,” National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said in an email.

But in announcing the plan to purchase Super Hornets on Nov. 22, cabinet ministers said the government would also set aside money to train more pilots and maintenance crew.

Pennie and Deschamps said even if enough potential pilots and mechanics are recruited, it will take time to get them through training.

“We don’t have the depth in our system of personnel to operate two fleets simultaneously without significant growth in the number of personnel,” said Pennie, who ran the air force from 2003-2005.

“And that takes many years.”

The Liberals have promised to replace the CF-18s with a full and open competition, but warned the process could take five years as the government wants to make sure it gets things right.

Pennie and Deschamps questioned why a competition should take that long, echoing two former heads of military procurement at National Defence who have said it could be held in half the time.

The two retired air force commanders also expressed concerns about the potential costs of operating two different types of fighter jets at the same time until a replacement for the CF-18s can be obtained.

“Airplanes are expensive and training all the pilots and making sure they’re supported to the degree they need to be supported, that all comes at a cost,” said Pennie, who is now a consultant in Ottawa but says he has not done any work on fighter jets.

“That’s why the interim aircraft fleet is a bad idea. It drives a lot of cost on an interim basis that you don’t need to be spending.”

Ministers have admitted they have an idea how much the Super Hornets will cost and that it will be more expensive in the long run for taxpayers, but they have refused to say by how much in order to protect their bargaining power with Boeing.

— Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter