BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

On April 9th, 2019, a Japanese F-35 Lightning II went missing while flying over the Pacific .  Not much is known so far other than the pilot signaled the need to abort the mission shortly before disappearing from radar.  Debris found in the area has been confirmed to be from the mission plane.  No word yet on the condition of the missing pilot. This is not good. Even for the troubled and tumultuous history surrounding the F-35, this is not good.  For more reasons than those one might usually suspect. There is of course, the damage this incident does to the JSF's already troubled safety reputation .  A reputation that includes one previous crash , engine fires , and oxygen deprivation .  One could argue that no aircraft is completely safe, but given both the F-35's newness and importance to allied airpower, any mishap worthy of concern. Just as concerning is the security risk this incident brings up.  The F-35's "killer app" is its stealth. ...

Hat tip to Eric Palmer! Eight-thousand feet. That is the minimum amount of runway required to safely operate the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) version of the F-35, the F-35A.  For training purposes it is preferable for the newbie F-35 pilot to have up to 10,000 feet to allow for a margin of error.  This is according to RAAF documents, found here (warning:  PDF download) . For those not keeping score, the CTOL F-35A was (is?) the planned replacements for the RCAF's aging CF-18s.  Being a carrier-capable aircraft, the CF-18 has little problem operating out of shorter runways.  Strengthened landing gear, low stall speed, and an arrestor hook make for snappy take-offs and landings.  The F-35A lacks these benefits, as they are not required to operate out of large USAF airbases with more than enough runway to go around. For Canada, things are a little different. Canada's current fleet of CF-18s are operated out of two airbases, CFB Co...