(Image courtesy Lockheed Martin)
In defiance of 143 years of tradition, the government plans to replace our aging CF-18s before they enter their third or fourth decade of obsolescence.
Deus Indicat. Deo Ducente Nil Nocet
I forgot to comment on this the other day. About HBC--I agree! I've often thought: how did the ...
UK classes killing kids' interest in tech
A great post. Your technical skills, on which you've built a career, dwarf mine, but my experien...
Canadian defense procurement shocker
I agree, I will address it at length in the future.
The short version is that the F-35 will be...
Canadian defense procurement shocker
Hi Chris,
I don't believe I've seen what you've thought of this purchase in terms of the actua...
Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths
Chris, this is a really outstanding post, and I learned a lot from it. Very timely, too, given t...
Chris is most often found flying a desk, but he delights in studying the Golden Age of Aviation (1919-1939). He admires all the pioneering men and women who navigated the skies with nothing more sophisticated than a map, compass and sextant—and the conviction that there was no place they could not reach.
#PhotoOfTheDay – Officers of 1 Bn, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) taking a tea break in the trenches, May 1915: http://t.co/AvxsNis2TX #WW1 Lieutenant H Blake served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. See his photo in Faces of #WW1: http://t.co/rjUfUUInnb Find out about Antwerp’s #WW1 experiences and the region's centenary plans in a new site from the Belgian Govt: http://t.co/bIFkEqVQB3 Can you find out more about Lt D Abel, Royal Field Artillery, for Faces of #WW1? http://t.co/nUj3GbDE0d #OnThisDay 1916, the Second Military Service Act was passed by the British parliament, extending #WW1 conscription to married men.
I hope you don’t mind . . . this had to be my QotD entry today (http://quotulatiousness.ca/blog/2010/06/10/qotd-historic-first/). I usually try to avoid quoting entire posts, but in this case I made an exception.
Not at all. Happy to be quote-worthy!
Hi Chris,
I don’t believe I’ve seen what you’ve thought of this purchase in terms of the actual plane. Is the F-35 the right plane for us? Would the F-22 be better? Will the F-35 hold up in Arctic temperatures? Can it do combat with other airplanes? Is it substantially worse than the competition? I’m hoping that the F-35 is a dream plane, but I don’t think so; it is, I am certain, though, many times better than our CF-18s! Anyway, I hope you’ll write a post on this when you get a moment.
Best wishes,
Nathan
I agree, I will address it at length in the future.
The short version is that the F-35 will be a very capable aircraft but I have doubts about its combat survivability. It won’t have any better maneuverability than an F-16, and in contested airspace of the next 30-40 years, that will be fatal. US DoD is banking on the F-35′s sophisticated sensors to keep the enemy from closing to knife-fight range where dogfighting ability really counts. I don’t think that is realistic; there are always countermeasures to sensors. But unless DND funding changes drastically, we will never be able to afford the F-22 either.