BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

Typhoon, we hardly knew ye... Airbus, which represents the Eurofighter consortium, announced the decision to withdraw from Canada's future fighter competition .  This follows Dassault, which announced its decision to leave back in November of last year.  This leaves Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Saab pitching their F-35, Super Hornet, and Gripen; respectively. I wish I could say this came as a surprise.  Sadly, anyone who has been paying attention should have seen this coming. Airbus's reasoning for dropping out of the competition sound suspiciously close to Dassault's; citing difficulty meeting security requirements and a last-minute alteration to the RFP that seemed to favor the JSF. “A detailed review has led the parties to conclude that NORAD security requirements continue to place too significant of a cost on platforms whose manufacture and repair chains sit outside the United States-Canada 2-EYES community,” the statement from Airbus and the UK Defence Min...

The last few years have seen Canada's ongoing quest to replace its CF-18s turned upside down .  The F-35 has gone from the odds-on-favorite to a political landmine.  Its assumed alternative, the Super Hornet, has gone from a no-bid certainty to being shunned. This pretty much leaves the three Eurocanards (Typhoon, Rafale, and Gripen) as the only alternatives.  This would have been unforeseeable five years ago.  Still, stranger things have happened. The current state of affairs would seem to suggest that the Eurofighter Typhoon has huge advantage over the other choices.  Airbus, part of the Eurofighter consortium, did just perform a last-minute rescue of Bombardier's C Series , after all.  This puts it in much higher regard with the Canadian government, especially compared to Boeing. As I have mentioned before , this is not necessarily a bad thing. Airbus C295, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. This would not be Airbus's first ti...

After more than a year of speculation, the Liberal government has announced its plan to replace the RCAF's aging fleet of CF-18 Hornets.  An election promise to walk away from the F-35, combined with promise to hold an open and fair competition meant there was going to be some sort of a shake-up. Things were shaken up even more when Harjit Sajjan, Canada's newly appointed Minister of Defence, announced that the RCAF's current CF-18 fleet was in worse condition then initially thought and that Canada was faced with a " capability gap ". Rumors circulated during the summer that Canada would announce the sole-source procurement of a small number of Super Hornets to be used as an interim solution.  This week, the Federal Government announced exactly that .  Canada will procure 18 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, followed shortly by a full and open fighter competition that will last approximately five years.  Canada will continue to act as a JSF industrial partner duri...

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a bit of a dichotomy.  Depending on the source, the Typhoon is considered either a deadly  air-superiority fighter  or an  unreliable money pit .  As always, the answer is probably somewhere  in-between . BAe EAP (Experimental Aircraft Program) History The Eurofighter Typhoon is the collaborative effort of four European nations; Germany Italy, Spain, and the U.K.  This joint effort was formed as a way to (hopefully) breath life into Europe's aerospace industry.  At one point, France was also involved, but left due to differing requirements.   The design goal of what was to become the Typhoon was a challenging one:  Develop an air-superiority fighter that combined the combat effectiveness of the F-15 Eagle, but in a size closer to that of a F/A-18 Hornet.  The end result was an aircraft resembling that of  British Aerospace's EAP demonstrator . The Typhoon's development was a troubl...

When the UK, Spain, Germany, and Italy got together to design the Eurofighter Typhoon, one wonders why they simply did not decide to procure the F-15 Eagle instead.  Instead, they decided to to go one better and develop a new medium-sized multirole fighter.  In theory, this had the benefit of both producing a fighter for the 21st century (hence the "Eurofighter 2000" moniker) as well as keeping the European aerospace industry up to date. Did they succeed?  In a word...  Yes.  But not without difficulty.  The Typhoon program has been beset with cost overruns, maintenance issues, and dissent among the partner nations.  Much of this is due to simple timing.  With the Cold War ended, many questioned the need for a cutting edge fighter. In recent years, economic concerns have led to austerity measures.  Now, the Eurofighter partners are looking for foreign buyers to help breath new life into the Typhoon. The F-15 had no such issues. ...

Growing up, I was obsessed with fighter aircraft.  Almost every flat surface of my bedroom was festooned with plastic models.  Bookshelves were a virtual air show static display in 1:48ths scale.  From the ceiling hung a 1:72 air battle as NATO aircraft escorted a B-1B bomber against a fleet of Soviet MiGs.  I blame my inability to ever do calculus on the brain cells lost due to the fumes given off of enamel-based paint and Testor's model glue . As I approached sixteen and the learner's driving permit that age entailed, my interest in military aircraft waned.  Fighter jets came down, and pictures of Lamborghinis (and Samantha Fox ) went up...  Where once able to quote the top speed of F-4 Phantom II, now I rattled off 0-60mph times. As I dove into magazines like Road & Track, Car and Driver, and Motor Trend, something became very apparent.   European marques were far more desirable.   How much interest can you really give a Pon...

"It's gonna need a built-in beer cooler before it can take off...  Eh?" While it is fun to discuss a fighter's speed, payload, and agility; there are other more mundane issues that need to be looked at. Before Canada decides on any fighter, it needs to address issues with how that aircraft can fit into the RCAF's current infrastructure, as well as meeting any operational challenges incurred by Canada's harsh climate and vast geography .  While it certainly is easier and cheaper to buy "off the shelf", that may not be feasible in some cases.  One way or another, there is a pretty good chance any selection will need to be "Canadianized" in order to make the most of the selection. The CF-18's marker light. Even the F/A-18 Hornet was not immune.  In its transition in becoming the CF-188 (Its official Canadian designation), the Hornet gained a distinctive false canopy paint scheme and an identification light on the forward port...