BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

Brothers from different mothers? For those of you whom have been living under a rock the last 24 hours, Bombardier has now partnered with Airbus in order to save the C-Series. No actual money has exchanged hands, but Airbus now owns 50.01% of the C-Series program.  This gives Airbus controlling interest in the jetliner moving forward.  While this may seem like a blow to Bombardier to see its pride and joy become the property of someone else, this partnership all but assures the future of the C-Series and Bombardier as a whole. Under this new partnership, C-Series headquarters will remain in Montreal and production will continue in Bombardier's Mirabel assembly plant.  Airbus will expand C-Series production by utilizing its pre-existing plant in Mobile, Alabama.  This will allow the C-Series to circumvent the U.S. Department of Commerce's crippling 300% import tariffs.  Airbus will also contribute its considerable marketing and supply chain prowess. ...

RAAF F/A-18 Hornet Canada has officially begun the process to acquire used F/A-18 Hornets from the RAAF .  It has presented the Australian government with a "Letter of Interest".  This tire-kicking will give a sense as to how much these second-hand fighters would cost us and how soon they would arrive. Let me save the Trudeau government some trouble:  Don't bother. This is not to disparage the Australians or the RAAF.  Like Canada, the Aussies have continuously upgraded and refurbished their fleet of Hornets.  While there are minor differences between the two, integration into the RCAF fleet should be relatively "plug-and-play". As far as costs go, second-hand F/A-18s would likely seem like a bargain.  It would certainly be a lot more affordable than the mind-boggling $5.23 billion quoted for 18 Boeing Super Hornets . So why give the RAAF Hornets a pass? It is a simple matter of availability.  The whole point of the interim fighter is to...

It sure doesn't look scary... [Note:  Sorry to dwell on the Boeing/Bombardier dispute instead of jet fighters...  But what is happening with the C-Series will have lasting repercussions to Canada's aerospace industry.  The Federal government's response to cancel its plans for an interim Super Hornet not only shakes up Canada's upcoming fighter competition, it puts the entire thing in a blender.  This point in history will be remembered as a pivotal moment for Canadians, right up there with the cancellation of the Avro Arrow.] Bombardier got hit with another  tariff this past week.  The US Commerce Department imposed an 80% anti-dumping tariff on the CS100.  This is in addition to the 220% "countervailing" tariffs imposed the week before by the same office .  These tariffs come at the behest of Boeing; which accuses Bombardier of both receiving unfair government subsidies and selling the CS100 at below market prices in order to gain ma...

Welp...  So much for that! Thanks to " Trumponomics " the plan to acquire 18 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets is now effectively dead . While not yet official , Boeing has now positioned itself  persona non grata  to Canada's Liberal government.  After months of rhetoric and threats, the Liberal government would be foolish to back down on their threats to cancel its Super Hornet buy if Boeing continued its suit against Bombardier. Procuring the Super Hornet at this point would be political suicide to the Liberal party.  They would be roasted, and rightly so, all the way to the next election.  In the meantime, they risk appearing weak in NAFTA talks.  Who would back down against a government full of empty threats? Barring any last-minute compromise, the idea of a Canadian Super Hornet dead on arrival.  And we were so close, too . What is Canada to do now though?  We still have a fleet of rapidly aging fighters and a "capability gap".  We...

Well...  Shit. The U.S. Department of Commerce sided with Boeing and imposed a whopping 220% tariff on all Bombardier C-Series airliners sold to American-based airlines .  Needless to say that effectively  tripling the cost of the C-Series seriously jeopardizes the plan to sell 125 units to Delta airlines. This was very much a make-or-break moment for the the troubled C-Series.  Delta would have been considered the aircraft's first major sale; encouraging other prospective buyers to get on board. Boeing claimed that Bombardier was "dumping" C-Series airliners on the US market.  The argument was that since Bombardier was the recipient of government assistance during development of the C-Series, it is able to sell the aircraft at below market value. The sheer hypocrisy of all this is mind-blowing.  Boeing, America's largest recipient of corporate welfare  accused Bombardier of an unfair advantage for doing the exact same thing that Boein...

Sorry (not sorry) about my summer hiatus.  I've been enjoying the weather and spending time with friends and family.   Anyway...  Here are some pictures from the 2017 Atlantic Air Show!   I have posted them without watermark so anyone is free to use them.  Consider them "open source".  (I still have the unedited .RAW files so I'm not too worried about someone claiming them as their own.