BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

"PEW-PEW-PEW!" Sometimes, once in a blue moon or so, news coming out of The Pentagon actually makes sense. The folks at Defense News recently reported that the USAF is in the preliminary stages of evaluating a light attack aircraft to supplement its A-10 fleet.  These new aircraft would then partially replace the aging Warthog over low-threat environments.  Aircraft like the F-15E and F-35 would take over duties in higher-threat situations. The reasoning is simple.  Aircraft like the F-35 and F-15E are complete overkill when it comes to dealing with violent extremists that use pickup trucks armed with machine guns ("technicals").  While there is no debating the tactical need, one has to question the financial argument of using a multi-million dollar aircraft that costs $30k per flight hour dropping a bomb that costs more than its target . As much praise as the A-10 receives for its mastery in the CAS role, even it has been complete overkill for most of ...

No...  Not that. It would seem that the CF-18 is not the only RCAF asset that is being tasked with flying past its prime. (Unlike the wonderful and evergreen Anne Murray) There ya go. Recent news reports have stated that the RCAF's fabled demonstration team will likely continue flying the venerable CT-114 Tutor until the year 2030 .  This would put the 60's era jet trainers approaching their 70th birthday by the time they retire.  Not as a design, but as actual 70-year-old airframes, as the last Tutor was built in 1966.  Even now, the Snowbirds can be considered ancient artifacts (apologies to any of my readers over the age of 50).   There is no shame in this, as the CT-114 Tutor has outlasted the CF-101 Voodoo, and is well on track to outlasting the CF-18 as well.   Indeed, the 431 Demonstration Squadron could be considered a "Heritage Flight".  As Professor Jones would say: From 1961 to 2000, the CT-114 Tutor served ...