OTTAWA - The federal government says Boeing's Super Hornet fighter jet is out of the running to replace Canada's CF-18s.
The official announcement from Public Services and Procurement Canada comes nearly a week after The Canadian Press first reported Boeing had been told its bid for the $19-billion fighter-jet contract did not meet Canada's requirements.
The government would not comment publicly at that time, including whether that meant the U.S. aerospace giant was out of the competition.
But today the department says Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighter and the Swedish Saab Gripen are the only two fighters still in contention.
The statement from the department does not say why Boeing did not make the final cut.
Companies had been ordered to show their fighter jet was able to meet the military’s requirements for missions at home and abroad, but also that winning the contract would result in substantial economic benefits to Canada.
News that one of the two U.S. companies competing for the contract failed to meet one or more of the requirements is the latest twist in a long and often unpredictable road toward replacing Canada's CF-18s.
