BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

The time has come. The time has come for every armchair admiral , internet "expert", and members of the " Chairborne Rangers " to come forth and do their part. Do not worry, I am not referring to actual combat or military service. The time has come for everyday Canadians to help determine the future defence policy of Canada.  Not in specific procurement or strategies, but the general direction Canada's military should take in the upcoming years. The Government of Canada has launched a Defence Policy Review  that will engage the Canadian public regarding the following: The main challenges to Canada’s security The role of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in addressing current threats and challenges The resources and capabilities needed to carry out the CAF mandate More details regarding the public consultation can be found here  (Warning: 6.6MB PDF file!). Canadians can submit their suggestions either online, by mail, or at one of six roun...

   No...  Wait...  That's  To bias. I am going to take a break from fighter jets for the moment, for reasons that will (hopefully) become clear later in the post. Why do we like the things that we like?  Why do we become so enamored with certain personal choices, whilst berating those that do not agree with us? The answer, of course, is  bias.   Our understanding of the world around us is modified by our own personal life experiences, education, and upbringing.  The value we place on things, be it politics, lifestyle choices, or even basic esthetics are modified by our own cognitive bias.  For example, someone who grew up with a more pragmatic upbringing would likely place less importance on appearance then someone who grew up surrounded by works of fine art and architecture. Simply put, if someone does not agree with you, it is not necessarily because they are less intelligent, more intelligent, or being contradictory, it is b...

With word of a hypersonic successor to the SR-71 on the way, combined with sixth-generation fighters for the USAF and USN , now would be a good time to look at the technologies and engineering that will debut in these new platforms. Propulsion: While everyone is familiar with the workings of current turbojets, turbofans, ramjets, scramjets, and jamjets.   For a number of years now, work has been proceeding in order to bring perfection to the crudely conceived idea of a aeronautical turbine that would not only supply inverse reactive current for use in unilateral phase detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal grammeters. Such an instrument is the turboencabulator. Now basically the only new principle involved is that instead of power being generated by the relative motion of conductors and fluxes, it is produced by the modial interaction of magneto-reluctance and capacitive diractance. The original machine had a base plate o...

Well...  That was...   Expected. The Liberal Party of Canada's first  Federal budget  since forming the government is finally here.  To the surprise of pretty much no one, defense spending is once again put on the back-burner.  This, despite an eye-watering $29.4 billion deficit projected for this year. Those hoping for increased funding will have to wait until 2020 before funding for large scale projects (CSPS, CF-18 replacement, etc) takes effect.  This is precariously close to the end of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mandate.  In all possibility, this increase in funding could very well hinge on the outcome of the  next  federal election.  (insert groan here) Ugh. One might view this as a possible return to the "Days of Darkness" that occurred under Prime Minister Jean Chretien...  And rightly so. To be fair, however, this budget does not make an about-face in Canadian military spending.  The previous St...

Bombardier C-Series:  Savior or a curse? Any Canadian reading the business news lately knows that Bombardier is in trouble . Layoffs, less-than-hoped demand for the C-Series , and requests for bailouts have made headlines for the Canadian aerospace company.  Some of the blame for this is directed at Bombardier's management practices.  Bombardier utilized a two-tiered investment structure, in which shares owned by its two founding families (Bombardier and Beaudoin) are worth far more than shares available to the general public.  Thanks to this, 13% of the shareholders enjoy a 54% of the voting power.  Combined with Bombardier's niche position in the marketplace, investors are likely to think twice . The question is:  Do we let Bombardier fail? Some may be tempted to let natural selection take its course.  "Darwinism" and all that.  Doing so would pretty much devastate Canada's aerospace industry, however.  Canada would still have pl...

Aviation buffs always get caught up. When the talk centers around fighter aircraft, they debate the merits of each by comparing top speeds, payload capability, wing-loading and such.  By using these empirical measurements, they can argue for their favorite based on hard facts.  Much like buying a car or a microwave, the selection usually comes down to choosing the right balance of features and price. Multi-billion dollar military procurement contracts do not work that way, however. In my last post, I focused on the government ministers whom will be ultimately responsible for Canada's next fighter aircraft acquisition.  Why?  Because politics determine fighter sales far more than stealth or the ability to supercruise. Putting aside each aircraft's performance and other capabilities, how politically  palatable are the CF-18 replacement contenders? F-35, no longer a near-certainty. F-35 Lightning II:  Down but not out. Five years ago, Canada's...

Sadly, these guys won't be in charge. When the Liberal government took power late last year, they inherited an extremely troubled military procurement system .  To be fair, that broken system was in turn inherited by Conservative Party of Canada when it came to power back in 2006.  While there may have been a few bright spots along the way , some would argue that Chretien's "Decade of Darkness" for the Department of National Defense has lasted for an entire generation. Thankfully, there are some signs to suggest we may soon see some positive movement. First of all, there is finally some movement in the agonizing process to replace Canada's fixed wing search and rescue (FWSAR) fleet. Next comes word that the government has formed a cabinet committee to look over future high-profile defense purchases .  While a committee can be a place where good ideas go to die, the high profile of the participants may suggest otherwise. Then again, Harjit Sajjan...