The coming $26 billion windfall for the Canadian Armed Forces. What to buy? (1 Viewer)

[Admiral Beez]

I've got the Advent calendar.

Inauguration Day 2029

Countdown timer showing how much time left until Saturday, January 20, 2029 12:00:00 PM in timezone Eastern, US (UTC-05:00)

www.tickcounter.com

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

The F-20 was then, and would be now, competitive with the F-16.

Right, but the F-20 could not carry as much ordnance as the -16, and had a range of 300-500 miles depending on mission ... not very good for a country as big as Canada.

 

[RCAFson]

Right, but the F-20 could not carry as much ordnance as the -16, and had a range of 300-500 miles depending on mission ... not very good for a country as big as Canada.

But they're cheap and with lots of them they can still provide the needed airpower. Also we have to consider improvements in engines, weapons and avionics in the last decades to boost range vs payload.

 

[Warspite63]

I think we should go through with the full F-35 purchase and any other projects underway or contracted. There's less than 211 weeks until Trump's gone, the last of Canada's F-35 probably won't be delivered until afterwards. It's a thirty plus year commitment, POTUS47 through 50 will be long gone.

Planned Canadian Forces projects - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But for future projects we should avoid US firms unless we have no better options.

Unfortunately, there's a rather large assumption in there......

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

But they're cheap and with lots of them they can still provide the needed airpower. Also we have to consider improvements in engines, weapons and avionics in the last decades to boost range vs payload.

With a lot of airbases, perhaps. But the thing is, airframes are not infinitely upgradable. And not only does the airframe have limits, so too does any firmware architecture. You have to upgrade them to modern standards, to interface with the vastly improved firmware, why not just buy a modern plane?

A Tigershark was great for its day, but it's an also-ran in today's air environment.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Right, but the F-20 could not carry as much ordnance as the -16, and had a range of 300-500 miles depending on mission ... not very good for a country as big as Canada.

I always thought the Panavia Tornado ADV would have been the ideal long distance interceptor for Canada's NORAD mission to replace the CF-101s operating from CFB Comox (British Columbia) and CFB Bagotville (Quebec), while the IDS could meet our NATO strike role then undertaken by the CF-104s out of CFB Söllingen (Germany). Canada was an early partner in the Tornado program. That was a good opportunity to put the US military industrial complex at arms length. Looks great in the snow too.

 

[Dimlee]

Korean KF-21 instead of F-35?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Korean KF-21 instead of F-35?

Looks good. We could also get some Black Panther tanks.

 

[Frog]

Dassault Rafale Standard F5 ?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Dassault Rafale Standard F5 ?

Of course we then open ourselves up to being cut off by France, as Israel discovered. In their case Israel knocked off the Dassault Mirage and made the Kfir.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Of course we then open ourselves up to being cut off by France, as Israel discovered. In their case Israel knocked off the Dassault Mirage and made the Kfir.

... which is really the issue in a country without indigenous arms development and supply.

 

[Admiral Beez]

... which is really the issue in a country without indigenous arms development and supply.

Agreed. Canada's 40 million souls have the 9th largest global GDP, higher than South Korea, Russia or Brazil, countries with strong indigenous arms supplies. Heck, the Brazilians are making their own nuclear attack boats, with French help. If we wanted indigenous arms development and supply, we'd have it.