BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

Lose the USAF roundel...  Keep the teeth. The A-10 Thunderbolt II (aka: the "Warthog") is nearly universally accepted as the best close air support aircraft ever built.  Originally intended for use a "tank-buster" for use against a Soviet ground army in the Cold War, the Warthog has gone on to assert its usefulness over Afghanistan, Iraq, and other inhospitable environments. The key to the A-10's success has always been its rugged simplicity.  It is almost the antithesis to aircraft like the F-22 and F-35.   It eschews stealth design, bleeding edge technology, and supersonic speed.  Instead, it flies slowly, shrugs off small arms fire, and carries a big freakin' gun.  It is the airplane equivalent to Wolverine.  It is simply the best at what it does, but what it does ain't pretty. Yet...  For some reason...   The USAF wants the A-10 gone . Ostensibly, the USAF's rationale for retiring the A-10 is to save money.  That money is n...

Ugh... The 2015 election season is slowly meandering forth from its cave, hungry and looking for sustenance.  Canada's three major federal parties have slowly started revealing their platforms for the upcoming election.  To no one's surprise, military spending has yet to garner any attention. Diving into each of these parties' websites reveals very little into how much attention they would pay to Canada's long neglected military. The Tories: The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) makes little mention of its plans for Canada's defense on its website.  It does, however, spend an entire page on " Keeping our Streets and Communities Safe ".  Apparently, the CPC is more concerned about an attack from within. If one digs around, the following blurb is found: By rebuilding our Canadian Forces and adopting a new, values-based foreign policy, the Government is protecting Canada’s sovereignty and advancing our national interests on the world stage. ...

It would seem fair to say that the most important component on an airplane is the engine. UAVs can fly without a cockpit.   Lifting bodies can fly without wings.  Without a method of propulsion, an aircraft is considered a glider.  An underpowered aircraft finds itself few fans.   Unreliable engines end up making the wrong kind of headlines. So, yeah...  Engines are a big deal.  Especially when it comes to $100 million jet fighters. When one reads news about the JSF, the fighter that will represent the vast majority of allied airpower for the next 30 to 40 years, headlines describing the F-35 engine as both "unreliable" and "costly" are bound to give one pause. A recent Pentagon Inspector General report slammed the JSF's Pratt & Whitney F135.  The report accounted of 61 instances where the engine did not meet the Pentagon's regulatory standards during inspection.  These issues were widespread, including project management, so...

On again/off again?   The on again/off again  Indian Rafale deal has finally moved on to the next chapter...  The problem is, nobody seems to know how long the book goes on for. What was to be a order for 126 aircraft has shrunk to a mere 36 .  All of those aircraft will be bought ready-to-fly from the French government.  In the original deal, 108 of the 126 Indian Rafales would be license-built in India by HAL. Ultimately, it was those HAL-built aircraft that ended up being the sticking point.  Dassault declined responsibility of quality control for Indian-made Rafales.  This, along with other factors stalled negotiations to a full stop. Here we go again? Of course...  This leaves a 90-fighter sized hole in India's air force. For now, India has " bought some time " to decide what to do next.  Do they submit a new RFP (request for proposals) and start the process over again?  Do they simply continue to negotiate for mor...

Sorry about my recent exile.  Real life has been getting in the way again. There is a lot of stuff to catch up on, especially the India/Rafale shenanigans.  I hope to put some more content up in the very near future. Thanks for putting up.

Any person who has bought the latest and greatest technological gadget  knows the pain.  The sheer joy of showing off that slick new piece of kit turns to frustration when its successor is announced . The F-35 Lightning II is still months away from its IOC, yet the USAF is already looking into future upgrades .  Not just minor upgrades, like additional weapons, but major upgrades like radar and engines.  Considering the massive amount of PR stating that the F-35 is the most "advanced fighter in the world", one might start to question why the USAF is already planning on the current model becoming obsolete. The JSF has been criticized for its flaws.  It is seen as too heavy, too slow, too expensive, and not that much better than legacy F-16s and F/A-18s it is destined to replace.  It is reasonable to assume that the addition of a new, more powerful engine, improved avionics, and even laser weapons  would make it more palatable to its critics. ...

It's not just because it looks cool...  Although it does. A lot has happened in the three years (has it been that long?) since I started blogging about my preference for the Saab Gripen over the F-35 for Canada's CF-18 replacement.  Not the least of which was a total " reset " officially putting the Gripen in the running...  Only for Saab to drop out . Looking back, dropping out may have been a wise move.  While Saab has quietly plugged away at Gripen E development, the JSF has continued to meet one controversy after another. An engine fire , a no-show at its own international debut , a gun that does not shoot , bombs that will not fit , continued worries about costs , and reliability issues  continue to make the F-35 the Kim Kardashian of the aviation world. Meanwhile, Saab has continued to work on its JAS-39E (aka: Gripen NG). I like what they did to the "Rumpfpylone". The Gripen E takes many of the legacy Gripen criticisms head-on.  Redes...