Thursday, December 02, 2010

No Point In Open Bidding For Fighter: DND

Because they already decided, from available information about all available planes, that there's only ONE that meets ALL mandatory requirements of the Canadian Forces.

The F-35!

So why bid when we already know that only one will do?  Why waste time and money on a worthless process?  To please Michael Ignatieff?  Feck that!

The F-35 is Canada's plane.

The debate is settled.  It's the F-35 Lightning II.

2 comments:

Colin said...

I am not so sure it’s the best bang for the buck for us. My gut tells me that a buy of 40 of these and 40 of a current fighter like the Super Hornet or new model F-15 would be the best way to go. That way if a problem is found with the aircraft that grounds it for a major fix (a clear possibility considering the amount of new tech involved) then you still have half your aircraft flying. Also you can then start looking to replace the gen 4.5 fighter before the F35’s get to old, so you can renew half the fleet with a possible Gen 5.5 aircraft, reducing the “sticker shock” and ensuring your fleet is always capable and up to date.
I think the current purchase is to small given the historical attrition rate, the increased threats we are facing and the risk of fleet technical issues.

Canadian Sentinel said...

That makes sense to me. A total of 80, split between the state of the art and the most advanced variant of a proven platform, would be smart.