in reply to WhiteOveries...
"JJA4 - So the answer in your opinion would be - no, it's not worth it."
I don't pretend to know all the answers but IMHO at this time Canada does not need a F35 type aircraft nor can it afford it.
I'd love to own a Porsche 911 GT3RS V2 for my track use but I simply can't afford to buy one so I make do with my Audi a4. :-)
"Can Canada make do with what it has then? Why replace your Hornet fleet at all?"
Our F-18s are now all approaching 30 years in service with only 79 of the original 138 still in operation. I guess we could maintain them as to get even more life out of them but it would remain an older platform which would be less capable than the newer versions.
"Can you 'make peace' on the ground when your Hornet takes a SAM or AAM before it drop it's weaponry?"
Lol you can't be serious! I don't care how modern or stealthy your aircraft is you still risk the chance of getting shot down. Remember the F-117 that got shot down by "primitive" weapons.
"Going in under a UN banner doesn't always make a difference to the bad guys, as a Sea Harrier and several others found out over the former Yugoslavia."
True... Any time one plays the role of a policeman, one gets a chance at getting in harms way. That's part of the risk in those kinds of jobs.
"Presumably your view differs from your (current) Government's, when's your next election or Defence Review which might change that?"
The current government never had an open and fair bid to decide which aircraft would replace our old F-18s and that's the problem. It was fixed from the get "go" so that only the F-35 would fit the criteria!
Now that the sh!t as hit the fan the government is back tracking and it is said that they are opening up to have a complete review of the whole purchase for the replacement. We just hope this time around the process if open and fair with "real" numbers so that the right aircraft is selected.
Also and I'm repeating myself here again but in 1980 when they were down to the last two contenders for the then new fighter, the F-18 won over its adversary the F-16 because one of the criterias was for a "two engine" aircraft because of the huge area, most of it inhospitable was deemed safer for its crews.
The question I pose now is why was that an important criteria then and now we are set on buying a single engine aircraft to patrol the same areas?