Nor would I want to go back to trying to coax old airframes and engines to hang together just that little bit longer to get the job done - too unreliable and costly.
Yes, old airframes. This led to the grounding of the Caribou - I believe it was a cracked elevator bracket which gave the crew a windscreen of dirt approaching Iron Range. They were so lucky, and the only Caribou flights after that were to storage and museums.
I bet you could get a bunch of them for the cost of a C-27, and maintain them for a lot less.
Yes, you are right. While we need to be assured the integrity of the airframes are "new build" standard, our recent "Rolls Royce" selections of Tiger and MRH90 have been disastrous. And having seen C-27 doing rolling aeros at Avalon, I am not convinced this is the criteria for a Caribou replacement. I have also made the point, we could be stuck with an orphan here, with US production of C-27J being ratcheted right back because of US Army/USAF infighting. If US production does stop around 15, aren't we mugs tacking 10 more on the end?