HALIFAX—Boeing Corp. will win a controversial contract to provide heavy-lift transport planes and helicopters to Canada's military because it can deliver the aircraft faster than competitors, company officials claim. Officials with the Chicago-based aerospace giant made the assertion yesterday during tours of the C-17 transport plane at a Halifax-area air show.
Boeing has been selected for a deal that will see the Canadian Forces acquire four C-17s for $3.4 billion and 16 Chinook helicopters for $2.7 billion, plus maintenance costs. The C-17 contract is expected to be awarded next spring, with the first plane delivered within 18 months and the last within four years. The Chinook helicopter contract, meanwhile, is expected to be awarded by next summer, with deliveries between three and five years after that. Chinooks will be assembled in the United States and maintained in Canada, but C-17s will be both manufactured and repaired in the U.S. |