You mean drones?
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter News, Videos and pics Thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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Nah, it's just that with our small population on a vast country, more than half of it with snow or mosquito manning the frontlines depending of the season, how can you defend with a handful of fighter jets or even twice the number in drones ?
If you keep some place in a modified business jet to carry some people if needed, used like an air ambulance, at least it could be useful for something. F-35 would just be waste.
As a "reward" for Canada's participation in such Washington led frameworks as the G7, NATO and NORAD, Ottawa is granted the immense privilege and special honor of purchasing and operating F-35 fighters in particular and sophisticated — so by extension expensive — American weapons systems in general so Canada may contribute F-35 fighters, as well as other assorted military resources — paid for by the Canadian public and staffed by Canadians put in harm's way — to future American led military (mis)adventures in the Pacific, Atlantic and anywhere else where Canadian Forces may be called upon to defend freedom and democracy!
Take a look at the countries that fly the F-35, and consider what they all have in common: every single current F-35 operator is bound to the US by a publicly acknowledged mutual defense treaty with the exceptions of Israel and Singapore.
Singapore's security relationship with the US is a bit controversial and complicated, and beyond the scope of this post; but there obviously should not be any questions or doubts about America's commitment to defending Israel.
The F-35 isn't so much a weapons system, but the physical manifestation of broader American security guarantees, which is in part paid for by the buyer's promise to stay monogamous to an American led military industrial ecosystem.
If you're curious what the price of infidelity is, just .
This is in part why the United Arab Emirates have yet to receive the F-35s that they were promised for recognizing Israel diplomatically, and why Saudi Arabia has been unable to buy the F-35 despite repeated efforts to do so since Lockheed prevailed in the JSF competition.
While there might have been a point when the Emiratis and the Saudis would have been jealous about Canadian access to the F-35, neither appears to be actively pursuing the F-35 at this point despite Trump's return to the White House. Some of these Arab sheikhs may have finally :
TBF it's understandable why Canadians would want to dump the F-35, as it would mark a tangible milestone in reclaiming Canadian sovereignty at a time when the American President is overtly threatening Canadian sovereignty or at least what's left of it. However, be warned: divorce can get expensive!
I think that it's an open secret now that even though the stated price tag of the F-35 is $80 million, the actual price is far higher than that. Remember that the F-35 program's primary purpose isn't to deliver a cutting edge fighter plane; it's to move the maximum amount of public money into Lockheed Martin's coffers. As such, I don't think that Canada is getting more ripped off than anyone else - I just think that everyone is paying more than claimed. At least any orders of F-35 should be Block 4 models rather than all the neutered older versions of the plane.
While Canada doesn't necessarily need F-35 specifically, it needs something to replace all of its ancient CF-18s. The F-35 isn't even a particularly good choice for Canada to begin with. One of the primary missions of Canada's fighter planes is to patrol its vast territories and to escort any Russian bombers approaching its airspace. For this mission, what Canada really needs is a two engine fighter with a really good range. And there just aren't all that many good candidates for this. The F-15EX is just ridiculous, there's no reason to get Superbugs, Rafales are too expensive for too little capability, Typhoons seem outdated, and Su-35s are out of the question because Canada is the most anti-Russia country in the world. The Gripen would have a good choice but it's a single-engine plane. And so the F-35 wins out by process of elimination. Well, technically, the ideal choice would be the J-35, but I don't see Canada putting any orders with Shenyang anytime soon!
While Canada doesn't necessarily need F-35 specifically, it needs something to replace all of its ancient CF-18s. The F-35 isn't even a particularly good choice for Canada to begin with. One of the primary missions of Canada's fighter planes is to patrol its vast territories and to escort any Russian bombers approaching its airspace. For this mission, what Canada really needs is a two engine fighter with a really good range. And there just aren't all that many good candidates for this. The F-15EX is just ridiculous, there's no reason to get Superbugs, Rafales are too expensive for too little capability, Typhoons seem outdated, and Su-35s are out of the question because Canada is the most anti-Russia country in the world. The Gripen would have a good choice but it's a single-engine plane. And so the F-35 wins out by process of elimination. Well, technically, the ideal choice would be the J-35, but I don't see Canada putting any orders with Shenyang anytime soon!
For that mission alone the US should give the planes to us for free! The Bears aren’t coming to bomb our cities.
It feels more and more that the US is ruling out military action in the Western Pacific. This order reduction fits with the possible withdrawal of American troops from Korea.
