The Government of Canada has reportedly decided to withdraw its plans to purchase 18 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft from Boeing.
Reuters, citing three unidentified sources familiar with the matter, reported that the government now seeks to purchase used F-18s from Australia instead of the new aircraft.
The development comes at a time when Boeing and Canadian company Bombardier are in the midst of a trade dispute.
Boeing had accused Bombardier of purposefully introducing C-Series 100 to 150-seat-large civil aircraft into the US market at prices millions below the production cost.
In October, the US Department of Commerce announced its affirmative preliminary determination in the anti-dumping duty investigation of imports of large civil aircraft from Canada.
In September, Canada requested a $5.23bn potential sale of ten F/A-18E and eight F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft from the US in order to better respond to current and future combat threats.
The potential sale with Boeing also included the delivery of 20 AN/APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars, 20 M61A2 20MM gun systems, and 28 AN/ALR-67(V)3 electronic warfare countermeasures receiving sets.
Canada also requested 15 AN/AAQ-33 Sniper advanced targeting pods, 20 multifunctional information distribution systems-joint tactical radio systems (MIDS-JTRS), 30 joint helmet-mounted cueing systems (JHMCS), and 28 AN/ALQ-214 integrated countermeasures systems will be included in the sale.
