MEMO TO GLOBE'S JEFF SALLOT: A GLOBEMASTER III IS NOT A HERCULES

Letter just sent to the Globe and Mail:

'The story by Jeff Sallot in the print edition of the Globe, "Ottawa to announce purchase of planes, sources say" (Nov. 21), makes the ludicrous statement that the two types of transport plane under consideration are the C-17J and the A-400. Since there is no "J" model of the C-17, and since it is made by Boeing--not Lockheed Martin as the story says, perhaps there was a typo for C-130J. Or else Mr Sallot is revealing his profound ignorance of matters military. The Lockheed Martin C-130J is in fact the other aircraft under consideration. Stephen Thorne's excellent CP story in your online edition, "Streamlined military purchase to go ahead" (Nov. 20, 5:30 PM EST) correctly identifies the two contenders.

By the way, the actual unit price of the C-130J is around C$ 80 million. Thus 16 planes would cost $1.28 billion. The $4.6 billion figure in the stories includes life-cycle costs such as spares, maintenance, training etc.

One prays that at least this portion of the plans to re-equip the Air Force can go through quickly.'

Update: The Globe prints a correction (but not the letter).

Posted by markc at November 21, 2005 09:55 AM | TrackBack