BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

After more than a year of speculation, the Liberal government has announced its plan to replace the RCAF's aging fleet of CF-18 Hornets.  An election promise to walk away from the F-35, combined with promise to hold an open and fair competition meant there was going to be some sort of a shake-up. Things were shaken up even more when Harjit Sajjan, Canada's newly appointed Minister of Defence, announced that the RCAF's current CF-18 fleet was in worse condition then initially thought and that Canada was faced with a " capability gap ". Rumors circulated during the summer that Canada would announce the sole-source procurement of a small number of Super Hornets to be used as an interim solution.  This week, the Federal Government announced exactly that .  Canada will procure 18 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, followed shortly by a full and open fighter competition that will last approximately five years.  Canada will continue to act as a JSF industrial partner duri...

It's been a week of small stories, so I decided to combine them all in one simple post. Overoptimistic? While some have declared 2013 as the year " everything went right with the F-35 ", 2014 hasn't gotten off to a great start for the JSF.  First, there was that little bit about Chinese outsourcing .  Then there was that bit about an Pratt & Whitney engineer caught smuggling sensitive material to Iran.  Not even out of January, and 2014 has revealed a few more nuggets about the controversial Lightning II. For one, Lockheed Martin's estimates of F-35 related job creation seems to be rather optimistic.  Despite stating that it has created 125,000 new jobs in the U.S., a non-profit study group estimates that number to be much closer to 50-60,000 .  Why the disparity?  It turns out Lockheed Martin is being rather generous with the number of indirect  jobs created by the program.   Indirect jobs are much harder to confirm or deny, making...

Mixing it up.  RAF Tornado and Typhoon. Canada's only jet fighter at the moment is the Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) CF-188 "Hornet".  As far as jet fighters go, the CF-18 is pretty versatile, its equally adapt at both air-superiority missions and ground attack.  While it isn't the best in any one category, it can handle most duties given to it. Canada hasn't always used a "one size fits all" fighter strategy, however.  In fact, it's a relatively new development. Up until 1995, the CF-18 flew alongside the venerable CF-116 (CF-5) Freedom Fighter .  The CF-5 was smaller, cheaper and more economical.  The CF-5 was far from an advanced fighter, however.  It's original raison d'être  was as a cheap, almost disposable fighter for third world countries.  With a crude radar, small payload, and limited capability, many argued that the CF-5 had no place in the RCAF in the first place.  The CF-5 was able to fulfill a small role as ...

Wait...  Maybe I phrased that wrong. It looks like Saab has another customer. Hot off of the Dassault Rafale being disqualified from its F-X2 fighter competition,  Brazil has decided to declare Saab's Gripen as the winner. With the Rafale gone, and the F-18E/F Super Hornet weighed down with the extra baggage of limited technology transfer and...  Uh...   American wiretapping ,   The Gripen's victory isn't much of a surprise. It's just a model...   For now. Will this lead to development of the Sea Gripen?  Will the increased orders help secure the Gripen NG's development and help Saab lower costs even more?  Will this free up Saab's marketing department to start working on Canada next? Let's hope so.

A decision still seems to be a ways off for for Brazil's F-X2 fighter competition .  Intended to replace its interim second hand Mirage 2000Cs (Brazil's Mirage IIIs have been retired), Brazil has been considering the Dassault Rafale, the Boeing F-18E/F Super Hornet, and the Saab Gripen E/F.  It now looks like the Rafale will no longer be considered  due to price concerns. This is bad news for Dassault, which hasn't seen its deal with India move as smooth at it would like, and French production has been slowed for budgetary reasons.  The Rafale is on the list of potential fighter choices for Canada and other countries, but its increasingly looking like a longshot when pitted against industry giants like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and the Eurofighter consortium. The Rafale would have been a great fit for Brazil.  Transition from its current Mirage fleet would have been a snap, and the Rafale M would make a great contender to replace aging A-4 Skyhawks ...

the CF-18 Hornet really the best aircraft for Canada over the last 30-odd years?  It's hard to imagine the RCAF without it, but the F/A-18 might not have been the best choice at the time.  The truth is that the F/A-18 was merely the "last fighter standing" after several others were dismissed as being unsuitable or too expensive.  Looking back one wonders how things might  have been. Canada's "new fighter aircraft" (NFA) was developed to find a single airframe to replace both the CF-101B used for interceptor duties and the CF-104 used for ground attack (despite the F-104's intended use as an interceptor) and nuclear deterrence in Western Europe.  138 aircraft were planned, with provisions to order more if needed.  Plans to replace the CF-116 (CF-5) Freedom Fighter with the same aircraft was postponed indefinitely. Panavia Tornados in CFB Goose Bay. In 1965, Canada had joined up with Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands to ...

For those who haven't seen what the fighters look like from the inside, here you go: Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II There's no doubt about it, the F-35's cockpit is the future.  A wide, full color, touchscreen is the dominant feature.  With touchscreen capability and countless features, the F-35's display will no doubt be just the thing for a generation of pilots used to iPads and smartphones. There is no heads-up-display (HUD).  Vital information is instead relayed directly onto the pilot's visor using the helmet mounted display, simulated in green in this picture.  Using the F-35's sensors, the helmet mounted display can even allow the pilot to "look through" the aircraft.   Future concepts for the Saab Gripen and Boeing Super Hornet show a very F-35-like cockpit layout. Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon sticks with a much more conventional layout.  Three large multifunction displays (MFDs) along the traditiona...