OTTAWA _ Companies vying to build the replacement for the air force's aging CF-18s have cranked up the hard sell as the Harper government weighs whether to hold a full competition _ or to stick with the troubled F-35 program.
Representatives Dassault Aviation (GREY:DUAVF,Stock Forum) and Eurofighter talked up the merits of their individual jet fighters this week at a major Ottawa arms trade show.
Not to be outdone, the U.S. manufacturer of the F-35, Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT, Stock Forum), and rival Boeing (NYSE:BA,Stock Forum), the maker of the Super Hornet, set up glitzy high-tech simulators hoping to give participants a taste of what it's like to fly their fast jets.
While all had praise for the nearly 18-month-long government review process, there was an underlying anxiety and hard-edge to each of the pitches.
Yves Robins, a senior vice president with Dassault, the French aircraft-maker, says the Conservative government's recent overhaul of the military procurement system means federal officials would be hard-pressed to explain a return to the F-35 sole-source plan.
Robins says if officials want to be consistent, there is a good chance they will consider what the other options might be.