BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

HMCS Protecteur being towed by USNS Sioux The Canadian Navy's two Protecteur- class replenishment ships are done.  After 45 years of faithful service, HMCS Protecteur suffered an engine room fire off the coast of Hawaii and needed to be towed back to port.  Her sister ship, the HMCS Preserver, is not doing much better.  In 2011, it smashed into a Halifax dock causing over a half-million dollars in damages .  Both ships have been plagued with electrical problems . These ships are no longer just "showing their age".  One of these ships is now officially dead with the other on life support.  Recently, it was announced that both ships have sailed their last journeys , along with the similar vintaged HMCS Iroquois and HMCS Algonquin destroyers.  This is just as well, as the two Protecteur- class ships were beginning to wear out there welcome in many ports thanks to their monohull design. The Queenston- class These two ships have served Ca...

Is there an easy solution to the "Death Spiral" puzzle? Sequestration .   Fiscal cliff .   Government shut down .   Default .   Obamacare .  Turn on a U.S. news channel and your likely to get bombarded with these terms.  It makes Canada feel smugly superior to think that all we have to worry about are spoiled senators . Whatever.  The American military has always been well secluded from budget cuts.  Large scale projects like the JSF even more so, since they provide plenty of jobs in plenty of political ridings, and are considered "top priority" for future defense needs.  Until now, anyway. With the recent Tea Party provided drama in the USA, it is no longer business as usual for the Pentagon.   Budgets will need to be cut .  Certain measures are already being looked at, including slowing down production of new aircraft carriers .  Then, there is that big, white elephant in the room, the F-35. The real enemy. ...

Sorry about my lack of posting this week. Consider me furloughed.  

United States Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh recently made a speech reinforcing the USAF's commitment to three very big and expensive projects.  In question are the KC-46 aerial tanker, the F-35 multirole fighter and the Next-Generation Bomber (B-3?). While it would seem obvious that the USAF's top man would voice support for future projects, the cold, hard reality of the United States' sequestration means that any or all three of these projects could be ripe for the picking. Boeing KC-46A, the USAF's "top priority". The KC-46 is desperately needed to replace the USAF's aging tanker fleet...  Supposedly.  The KC-46 is said to be the USAF's  "top priority"  possibly even beating out the F-35A.  It would seem rather odd, however, that the USAF is so keen on getting new tankers, while at the same time, contemplating retiring their existing KC-10 tanker fleet early.   Development of the KC-46 has not been smooth, with budge...

Could the F-35 be targeted for budget cuts? To view the latest Lockheed Martin PR, the Joint Strike Fighter is progressing quite nicely, thank you.  Costs are coming down , the 100th jet is being built, and 2400 new jobs will be created as production ramps up.  In a recent Twitter based question and answer session , Lockheed Martin test pilot extolled the F-35's virtues, and stated that the JSF program will provide Canada with " niche industrial participation is unique capability to sustain high-tech industry for 4 decades." So what's the panic? Sequestration.  The forced budget cuts required by the U.S. government have put the F-35 program's future in doubt. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has stated that the U.S. may have to make the hard decision of choosing between a much smaller force or a modernized one.  How big will   these cuts  be?  The U.S. Army would see a cut in personnel from 490,000 to 380,000.  Th...