Unfair, Say Three Aerospace Firms

And the winner of the $3.2 billion contract to replace the Canadian military's aging Hercules transports is -- Lockheed Martin, and its C-130J.

That decision by the Canadian Defense Department is being called into question by a number of aerospace firms, including Airbus, Snow Aviation, and now Italy's Alenia North America, which claim that Lockheed was the predetermined winner, reported the Ottawa Citizen Friday.

Canada will spend $3.2 billion to acquire 17 C-130Js, as well as on infrastructure, training, and other related project expenses.

Alenia contends it was kept out of the Canadian military's competition and its aircraft, the C-27J, can do 80 percent of the job of a C-130J and more, and at a third of the cost, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Alenia North America president Giuseppe Giordo said its C-27J competed in a US military program against the C-130J -- and won. (Editor's Note: Lockheed did field a version of the C-130J in the initial stages of the US Army and Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft competition, but the Lockheed plane was soon rejected due, in part, to a JCA requirement the aircraft be certified by the FAA.) 

As ANN reported, Alenia won a multi-billion dollar US military contract just last week to provide more than 150 transport aircraft. The first C-27J will be delivered for the US program in a year, according to Alenia.

Giordo also noted that the C-27J costs about one-fifth the price to maintain.

"If you have an aircraft availability that is much more accelerated, if you have something that costs much less, and if you have something than performs 80 percent of the mission of the C-130J, I believe that somebody should at least take into account that option," he said.

Lockheed Martin helped Alenia develop the C-27J and provides the avionics for some of the aircraft.

As ANN recently reported, Canada's National Defense has formally requested to jump ahead of the US military to secure delivery of 17 C-130J Hercules by 2009 -- a full year ahead of schedule.

But Wait, There's More

Not only can the C-27J perform most of the same missions of the Lockheed craft at a third of the purchase price and a fifth of the maintenance cost, Giordo added -- it can also be used to replace Canada's aging search-and-rescue aircraft, saving even more money.

Alenia officials submit that the military's airlift needs would be assured with a fleet of C-27Js combined with the larger C-17 transport aircraft that Canada is purchasing.

While Alenia, Airbus, and Snow Aviation, a small US aerospace firm, claim their proposals were either not given a fair hearing or that the contest was pre-designed to select the C-130J, the response from the Conservative government was that last year's competition to select a tactical transport plane for the Canadian Forces was fair, open, and transparent.

Lockheed Martin spokesperson Peter Simmons said the C-130J meets Canada's tactical airlift requirement and was selected under a fair and open process. The requirements for a new fleet were demanding and precise and the C-130J met all nine mandatory requirements set out, he added.

FMI: www.alenia-aeronautica.it, www.forces.gc.ca. www.lockheedmartin.com