CF-35
 

Canada has recently announced that it will acquire 65 Lockheed-Martin F-35 aircraft to replace the CF-18 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - Next Generation Fighter Capability | National Defence and the Canadian Forces

But which version though? F-35B would seem irrelevant for the CF's requirements. The F-35C has a greater combat radius than the A or B and also has a refuelling probe rather than the A's receptacle which isn't compatible with the CC-150 Polaris tanker's drogue system, of course.

Does the F-35A have the option of fitting the probe system from the F-35B and F-35C? I can't see it being more cost-effective to attempt to fit a boom to the CC-150T, so will the 'CF-35' be a bespoke probe-equipped Canadian version of the A model?

Beags,

Canada has been looking at both A (Conventional) and C (Carrier) variants for a while I believe. While the C model has a probe/drogue it is, for all intents and purposes, a maritime aircraft but it has a low landing speed due to the wing size; again ideal for landing on icy or snowy runways. The ideal combination would be an A model with a probe and also a drag chute (to get their landing distance requirement). Both of these excursion options have been looked at and they are very promising.

Hope that helps.

Having both boom AND probe systems like the F-105 is the answer. All bases can be covered...

Actually the F-35 is a modern mirror image of the F-105 in terms of mission and wing loading etc....+++of course it benefits from 40+ years of technology advances...

Indeed. The excursion would include both refuelling options.

Being boom capable would be useful if deployed into Alaska (as during F-15 cracking episode) but perhaps rather than add the complexity of two refuelling systems the easier answer is to buy boom 35s and buy A330 tankers with boom and pods instead?

The structure where the probe goes on the B/C version is unchanged on the A. It has been deliberately arranged so that putting a probe on the A is not a big deal.

In which case a probe-equipped CF-35A would seem the obvious choice?

Lucky people, it looks as though it'll be a very nice jet!

Its about time we started thinking about something new, I like the CF18's but they are getting pretty old...