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Good luck with that... expected delivery date is 2075 and adjusted price with inflation will be about 16 trillion dollars. You guys should have talked to the RN first - they know all about waiting for F-35s, and also about building carriers that will be in reserve before the aircraft for them arrive
I hate to say it but many Canadian military procurements of US products over the past 40 years involved some type of offset and it worked out great for both countries, not only a strengthening of an allied military presence in this part of the world, but a sharing of technology that eventually helps both countries. The jobs though were the primary reason.You're right, I was a bit heavy on the cynicism - apologies. I did further reading on the Canadian involvement after that rather off-the-cuff comment and I understand that Canada is going in more for economic reasons than purely military ones - their participation allows Canadian industry to compete for work on the aircraft.
I can agree there and offer this - each major partner in this project design some of its own software "goodies," share what they have to and guard certain aspects of sensitive software. The UK shouldn't have to be a "victim" should someone hack into a mainframe and compromise top secret information and vice-versa.I do still have my doubts over the project though. Mainly around security, for example the theft of several terabytes of project data by hackers, and also around whether the UK is being given proper access to technology.
I can agree with your frustration 100%. BAE is the third largest US defense contractor and that may provide leverage in that situation. I could see the rationale behind a US National with regards to the Trident, but I can't see how the US can justify blocking a UK deployment of their conventional forces for the protection of the UK's national sovereignty. Again agree 100%Finally, some of my reading has suggested that if the MoD decides to reduce it's financial commitment, we may end up in a situation where an American national is required to be involved in a British chain of command - as is the case with Trident. I do not like that one bit. The US distanced itself from us during the last round of sabre-rattling in the Falklands. The idea of the US being able to veto the deployment of RAF/RN aircraft in a future repeat of this scenario frankly makes my blood run cold...
I also think that Canada will stay in as they have a hefty economic benefit to earn from participation. Other countries? I think that if their operational requirements are serious, they will stay in regardless of blabbing politicos. There really isn't any other game in town for the F-35's capabilities.
Of course, we need new fighters... They say Canada's F-18s' "service life" is gonna reach its end soon, I personally say it reached it about 10 years ago... But that's an other story.
Hmmm, I believe our F-16 airframes could hold out for many more years to come. probably your F-18's are in the same league (I believe they're not as old as our oldest F-16's..) On a pure technical point of view, they needn't be replaced. They can still be modified to carry modern weapons and what do we need such an expensive new fighter for? What do we use it for? For fighting in UN wars like Afghanistan. I think an F-16 still meets the demands for such kinds of wars. Same counts for the F-18. But our government in it's wisdom has stated that the F-16 should be replaced, most probably by the F-35 (The SAAB Grippen is also still in the running, but is lagging behind).