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OTTAWA – The Canadian air force pressed the Harper government to buy another C-17 heavy-lift transport while the army was beginning a painful, post-Afghan war budget-cutting exercise.

Internal documents show senior commanders argued adding a fifth aircraft to the existing fleet was essential, saying there was “a strong operational and business case” for making the purchase in 2013.

Briefings obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information legislation show the air force proposed using funds left in the department’s corporate account.

The pitch was made as the Conservatives delivered a tough, deficit-slashing budget in 2012 that proposed a fifth of all federal cuts come out of National Defence.

It also came as the army saw its budget shrink by as much as 22 per cent.

But the air force argued that adding another C-17 — at a cost of about US$169-million — would expand its capability in disaster and humanitarian missions, as well as ease the burden on the existing fleet.

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