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Jeremy Reimer's Blog
I am a writer, developer, futurist, and one-half of the Knotty Geeks podcast.
Interests: Astronomy, newLISP, Science Fiction.
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Canada is purchasing the wrong ZIG.
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| Author | Message | |
| AllYorBaseRBelong2Us | Posted on: Wed Apr 4 21:06:42 2012 | |
 Joined: Sun Dec 5 06:23:12 2010 | So Canada is looking to replace it’s current stock of FA-18s with a newer fighter. They have chosen the Lockeed F-35A as it’s replacement, which has caused no small bit of howling from various factions within Canada. The concerns are valid. The Joint Strike Fighter program that produced the F-35 Lightning II was from the start an attempt to meet an impossible amount of demands: stealth, air-superiority, first rate avionice, carrier capable, STOVL, and somehow find enough time to be cheap. So it ended up being all of those things and none of those things at the same time. http://www.ausairpower.net/jsf.html Basically, it’s the worlds greatest stealth attack aircraft, so long as you don’t want to carry too many munitions and don’t wade too far into another significant Power’s aerial defense. And, so help you if you actually encounter another fighter that wasn’t refit since the Cold War.... | |
| Riso | Posted on: Thu Apr 5 01:32:25 2012 | |
 Joined: Fri Jan 21 04:43:46 2011 | Meanwhile, in Europe, the Eurofighter’s promised air-to-ground capability still has not materialised years later. | |
| AllYorBaseRBelong2Us | Posted on: Thu Apr 5 02:09:16 2012 | |
Joined: Sun Dec 5 06:23:12 2010 | The Eurofighter makes AYB appriciate the Raptor, who was widely panned for it’s cost (which is essentially $67 billion for the entire program) The Eurofighter’s cost stands about about $59 Billion US dollars, and it’s nowhere near the airplane the Raptor is. The Eurofighter, as far as anyone can tell, isn’t really "stealth" in the real sense of the term. and it’s doubtfull it can actually achive supercruise. it looks like simply a Gen 4+ fighter.... | |
| Jeremy Reimer | Posted on: Fri Apr 6 10:04:06 2012 | |
 Joined: Fri Nov 19 10:21:20 2010 | This is really interesting, because it seems to be a problem that a lot of other countries have as well. The Raptor is too expensive, and the JSF tries to be all things to all people and does nothing well. The older airframes like the F-16 and F-18s are just getting too old. Even in the US, apparently, they kept reducing the number of F-22 Raptors they plan to build. The Raptor was supposed to be the new front-line fighter but instead they are building more JSFs. And they aren’t building any more F22s:
So... what’s going on? | |
| AllYorBaseRBelong2Us | Posted on: Fri Apr 6 10:31:46 2012 | |
Joined: Sun Dec 5 06:23:12 2010 | Well, one is that the Raptor is barred from foriegn sales, and who knows, maybe for good reason. The other is that a lot of other high-profile NATO fighter projects are comming up very short. | |
| AllYorBaseRBelong2Us | Posted on: Fri Apr 6 10:36:40 2012 | |
Joined: Sun Dec 5 06:23:12 2010 | Also, I think they are building JSFs and purchasing them because they are just going to go ahead with plan A because they are just so invested in it. At least they kept up with the STOVL "B" version since whithout it, it looses a lot of what made it unique as a weapon. | |
| Riso | Posted on: Sat Apr 7 04:53:35 2012 | |
Joined: Fri Jan 21 04:43:46 2011 | I think many of the problems are a combination of lacking focus, lack of competition, and good old "kickbacks". Politicians and military want wonder weapons, jobs for their constituents, campaign donations, and high paid jobs after leaving office/military. Nobody cares if the new toys are even necessary or how much they cost the tax payer. | |
| Jeremy Reimer | Posted on: Tue Apr 10 11:48:30 2012 | |
Joined: Fri Nov 19 10:21:20 2010 | It’s not clear how necessary the fighters are, but one sort of thinks that a sovereign nation should have some sort of military, even Soviet Canuckistan. Our CF-18s are still serviceable, but they won’t last forever. At some point it starts to cost more just to maintain them than to purchase new airframes. Given that the F-22 Raptor was never available for export and isn’t even being built any more, one wonders what planes we should be purchasing other than the JSFs? The Eurofighter? Or maybe bring back the Avro Arrow! | |
| Jeremy Reimer | Posted on: Wed Apr 11 09:41:36 2012 | |
Joined: Fri Nov 19 10:21:20 2010 | Fun fact: the Arrow hit Mach 2.0 in test flights in 1958. The "modern" F-18 maxes out at Mach 1.8, and that’s with full afterburners. | |
| Riso | Posted on: Fri Apr 13 06:22:40 2012 | |
Joined: Fri Jan 21 04:43:46 2011 | Top alternate choice: The Dassault Rafale. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Rafale It recently beat out the Eurofighter in Indian tests. One of the reasons was: the Rafale groundstrike ability actually exists. | |
| Jeremy Reimer | Posted on: Fri Apr 13 11:57:51 2012 | |
Joined: Fri Nov 19 10:21:20 2010 | That’s a lot of fighter that you get for about one-third the cost. Hmmm. EDIT: It looks like Canada might be slowly backing away from the JSF: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1145684--canada-may-not-buy-f-35-fighter-jets-ottawa-admits Of course that article doesn’t really confirm or deny anything. | |
