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The RCAF's Next Generation Fighter (CF-188 Replacement)

Loachman said:
Just admit to the stupidity of the election promise and order F35s FFS.

It's not like this is the first stupid election promise to be broken.

At this point, with the further development of the F-35, I'm inclined to agree.

On the other hand, I truly believe we need more aircraft than we have.  If we can get useable F-18s soon, it's a good option in the interim. 
 
SeaKingTacco said:
This whole saga cannot possibly get any dumber...

Great.  Now you did it, SKT.  Someone's going to try and Viam Inveniemus...
 
Having lived through a good portion of the MHP saga, I am daring the universe to top that with this project.
 
SeaKingTacco said:
Having lived through a good portion of the MHP saga, I am daring the universe to top that with this project.

Viking Air is a Canadian aerospace company who own the type certificate for the CL215.  How hard would it be to adapt that airframe to the air superiority role?

"Just because it shouldn't be done doesn't mean it won't be done."
 
jmt18325 said:
On the other hand, I truly believe we need more aircraft than we have.  If we can get useable F-18s soon, it's a good option in the interim.

And from which manufacturer do we buy the Pilots and Techs?

We cannot produce and retain enough now.

We are also capped by PYs, so, what do we cut to free enough?

These questions have been raised, here, by a few of us.
 
Loachman said:
And from which manufacturer do we buy the Pilots and Techs?

These questions have been raised, here, by a few of us.

Definitely questions.  I'm in favour of more frames for a simple reason.  If you manage it right, 88 should give you 100% availability of the 48 active fighters on a day to day basis.  Used frames make a lot of sense as it simplifies it all.  It may not result in more aircraft overall in the squadrons, but it would mean that the entire squadron could be active (provided that there are actually enough pilots for even that on a day to day basis - there isn't right now from what I hear in this forum). 
 
If your maintainers cannot keep 8 aircraft serviceable with 14, they won't be able to make 8 with 20.  Maintenance can only work on so many aircraft at once.  They have a finite capacity.  If you want more aircraft on the line, you need more techs.
 
SupersonicMax said:
If your maintainers cannot keep 8 aircraft serviceable with 14, they won't be able to make 8 with 20.  Maintenance can only work on so many aircraft at once.  They have a finite capacity.  If you want more aircraft on the line, you need more techs.

Well, theoretically, there's supposed to be more money coming this fall for that kind of thing - we'll have to see if it actually materializes. 
 
jmt18325 said:
Well, theoretically, there's supposed to be more money coming this fall for that kind of thing - we'll have to see if it actually materializes. 
More money does not pay for more people when the organization is already straining against the established personnel cap.
 
MCG said:
More money does not pay for more people when the organization is already straining against the established personnel cap.

Not my area of expertise - you would hope they'd have some kind of plan to go with this.
 
MCG said:
More money does not pay for more people when the organization is already straining against the established personnel cap.

it also doesn't help when techs are being approached by private industry and offered much higher wages for their skills. Once met a avionics tech in Borden, after his QL5 he was leaving the CF to take a 6 figure salary at a private firm that recruited him.
 
SeaKingTacco said:
This whole saga cannot possibly get any dumber...
Oh, just give the powers-that-be a chance............

Once upon a time I thought nothing - repeat, nothing - would top the USAF tanker project for weapons-grade dumbity, but I hereby happily concede that I was just a tad premature in that judgment.

 
jmt18325 said:
Not my area of expertise - you would hope they'd have some kind of plan to go with this.

A PLAN! A you freakin serious? This whole interim buy was a back of the napkin crayon drawing right from the start. Mainly because the liberals at the time were in 3rd place and thought they had a couple of elections to go before getting back in. Now they are caught in a web of their own making.

I would have more respect for our political "leaders" if they would just admit that sometimes they come up with a dumb arse plan and it should be shelved once reality hit them in the face.

This whole "dispute" is likely their way to delay things until after the next election.


 
FSTO said:
A PLAN! A you freakin serious? This whole interim buy was a back of the napkin crayon drawing right from the start. Mainly because the liberals at the time were in 3rd place and thought they had a couple of elections to go before getting back in. Now they are caught in a web of their own making.

To be fair, I don't believe the interim buy was ever part of the election platform.
 
jmt18325 said:
To be fair, I don't believe the interim buy was ever part of the election platform.

You are right, they were going to use the money "saved" by not purchasing the F35 to finance the NSP.

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2448348-new-plan-for-a-strong-middle-class.html#document/p8

"We will make investing in the Royal Canadian Navy a top priority.
By purchasing more affordable alternatives to the F-35s, we will be able to invest
in strengthening our Navy, while also meeting the commitments that were made
as part of the National Shipbuilding and Procurement Strategy. Unlike Stephen
Harper, we will have the funds that we need to build promised icebreakers,
supply ships, arctic and offshore patrol ships, surface combatants, and other
resources required by the Navy.
These investments will ensure that the Royal Canadian Navy is able to operate as
a true blue-water maritime force, while also growing our economy and creating
jobs."

Why nobody in the opposition or media called out the Liberals on this whopper is beyond me.
 
Meanwhile some in Canadian aerospace push back--now what about firms with F-35 contracts (or seeking them)?

Canadian firms prod Trudeau to approve Super Hornet deal

Ten Canadian-based aerospace companies are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to stop blocking the purchase of 18 Super Hornet fighter jets, arguing they stand to suffer from the government's unwavering support of Bombardier Inc. in a trade dispute with Boeing Co.

"Prime Minister, we ask for your co-operation as we work with Boeing to keep our collective growth and innovation story unfolding here in Canada. Our partnership is deep and enduring, but it needs your engagement," said the letter sent on Tuesday by senior executives from firms such as Héroux-Devtek, L-3 MAS, CAE and GE Canada.

The letter, which calls on the government to advance "aerospace for all of Canada," is the most recent development in an increasingly bitter dispute between the Canadian government and Boeing. Ottawa is holding the Super Hornet contract as its main bargaining chip in its fight on behalf of Quebec-based Bombardier, while members of the "Boeing team in Canada" want to convince the government that its strategy will actually hurt Canada's aerospace industry as a whole.

"There is a bright opportunity in front of us that can be harvested, in a successful and mutually beneficial win for Canada, our Canadian companies, and Boeing," said the letter sent to Mr. Trudeau, his two key aides, Katie Telford and Gerald Butts, and five federal ministers...
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadian-firms-prod-trudeau-to-approve-super-hornet-deal/article36184326/

Mark
Ottawa
 
Actually, It's even more of  a whopper.

jmt is right: the interim purchase was never part of the platform. That's because the interim purchase was conceived after the election as a ruse to avoid the other promise - of holding a proper competition for the CF-18 replacement that would not include the F-35.

Breaking this later promise was necessary because they found out, after the election (but any person even remotely knowledgeable would have known before), that the imbecilic, ignorant and irrational statement of their leader that the F-35 doesn't work, and his indirect but equally Imbecilic/irrational/ignorant statement that the F-35 is too expensive, turned out to be false. The F-35 is not only perfectly capable, now, to fulfill the requirements of Canada, but is also able to do so at a price that is not much different than the price of any alternative airplane. Even better: if the F-35 was let in any proper competition, it would beat the other entries, likely cold.

But that wouldn't do: it would expose Trudeau as the ignorant person he is in matters of defence. And it would break a major promise (fair competition - no F-35).

So unilaterally, without consulting the actual expert in defence, i.e. the CDS and the Comd RCAF, they concocted (probably with the help of sympathetic civil servants in the department) the idea of "creating a crisis" as solution: Change the policy on fighter employment so as to create an otherwise non existent "gap", then claim the gap must be closed NOW! Close it with a sole-source purchase justified by the "urgency" and therefore with something other than F-35 - then use that whole kaflafla to claim that you can only hold the proper competition for replacement in a few years (i.e. after the next election). This last point is complete bull, as all the requirements for the replacement have been known for years, and a proper competition can be held right now (and could have been held a year ago) and the selection could be made within a year. But it would have to include the F-35 if the government doesn't want to be sued, and the F-35 would likely win both on capability and price, as it has done everywhere else.

Then Boeing comes up with this useless lawsuit against Bombardier (I say useless because Bombardier products do not even compete with Boeing's, and Bombardier was willing to enter into an agreement with Boeing agreeing to not compete with Boeing's larger models after the C-Series take off), and the Liberals are screwed.

Well they are screwed because they chose to play gutter politics with national defence. Everybody does it in Canada: Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Here the Liberals lost badly, by their own making. But the poor schmo who always loses is the guy/gal at the sharp end when his/her life is at stake.

BTW: Is it just me or has our "bad-ass" minister of defence all but disappeared from the face of the planet in the last eight months - after being in such prominence during the first year of the Trudeau government  ???

P.S:  18 Super-hornets is insignificant to Boeing. It's the equivalent to the revenue of selling six Boeing 777 or 787, something Boeing can do in couple of weeks. The real cost to Boeing is in the profit margins: While Boeing claims "improper" subsidies for Bombardier, they certainly don't want to have to disclose that they, themselves, have been indirectly subsidized by the US government for years through inflated prices and, in particular R&D financing, of "military" planes as a way to keep the cost of development of new civilian airplanes down and improve competitiveness.

The world of aeronautical production is completely subsidized everywhere in the world. It's not a "level" playing field where everyone competes on competence/efficiency alone. In fact, no industry in the "free-market" economies is unsubsidized somehow these days. All corporations want the government to 'butt-out" when they are raking money hand over fist, then come crying if they don't get the subsidies they want or when things go sour. There's always a province, state or country out there willing to give them more of the taxpayer's money. 
 
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