The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on Monday that the State Department had approved an $862.3 million sale of 50 AIM-9 Block II Sidewinder missiles “and related equipment” to Ottawa.
However, “related equipment” includes upgrades to a wide array of aircraft systems. Some of the other items in the sale are APG-79(V)4 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars, F/A-18A Wide Band RADOMEs and weapons racks to be mounted on the jets, as well as a host of training equipment.
A curious addition in the sale are 20 AGM-154C Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOW), a type of glide bomb with a 500-pound shaped warhead for penetrating reinforced targets.
“This sale will provide Canada a 2-squadron bridge of enhanced F/A-18A aircraft to continue meeting NORAD and NATO commitments while it gradually introduces new advanced aircraft via the Future Fighter Capability Program between 2025 and 2035,” the DSCA statement notes.
According to the release, companies involved in the contract include Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing and Collins Aerospace.
A version of McDonnell Douglas’ F/A-18 Hornet built for Canadian use, the early CF-18s were roughly the same as the A and B models used by US forces, which is why the DSCA refers to them as F/A-18As, but they were later updated with avionics and other systems typical of the C and D models. However, Canadian pilots have added a few upgrades of their own, too, such as false canopies painted on the underside of the aircraft to confuse enemy pilots in a dogfight.
Ottawa has looked at several aircraft to begin replacing its 80 CF-18s in 2025, including perhaps the most logical choice: Boeing’s E and F models of F/A-18, dubbed the Super Hornet. Other competitors are the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, the Eurofighter Typhoon, the French Dassault Rafale and Sweden’s Saab JAS 39 Gripen. According to the program website, Ottawa has set aside up to $19 billion to procure 88 jets.
Canada has produced few aircraft on its own, typically opting to buy from NATO partners instead. Two standouts include the Avro CF-100 Canuck interceptor, the only Canadian-designed plane to enter mass production, and the infamous Avro Arrow, a superpowered, delta-winged interceptor that was canceled in 1959 amid fears that bombers were becoming obsolete, the controversy of which hangs over Canadian aviation to this day.
