Ok I'm going to attempt to weave this discussion into the NSS. I'm not going to say which partner we should necessarily be going with during this analysis.
I hear from quite a lot of people on here that Canada doesn't have, currently, the domestic ability to produce a 6th or a 5th or even a 4th generation fighter jet and that we shouldn't even bother considering doing so. That sounds a lot like the argument that has been put forward 15 or so odd years ago when the NSS was being slapped together. Let's put aside our ability to produce the fastest private corporate jet on the market today and let's also put aside the ability of CAE.
That we hadn't produced a modern warship in over 20yrs and that we'd be wasting our time in doing so was a thread that was loud and strong when the NSS was being cobbled together and it still has champions today. The solution that was taken, for all 3 classes of ships that the RCN has taken possession of, (AOPS), is about to take possession (JSS) and will take possession of in the future (River Class), was for Canada to buy an existing set of blueprints for the AOPS (Svalbard class), for the JSS (Berlin Class) and for the Rivers' (Type 26) and to add various 'Canadian' touches (needs/requirements) to each of these classes of ships. Today, though we have throughput constraints in my humble opinion, we have successfully commissioned the DeWolf class, are about to commission the Protecteur class and have had our first keel laying ceremony on the River class. Not bad for a country that hadn't produced a warship in 20 odd years.
But what did we 'really produce' in each of these classes of ships?
Engines:
- Where the engines in the AOPS produced/manufactured in Canada? Yes, they were in Peterborough.
- Where the engines in the JSS produced/manufactured in Canada? No, no they were not. Those engines were produced in Europe at MAN's facilities there and their CDN facilities provided the 'integration, training, testing and support' of these engines.
- Where are the engines in the River's produced/manufactured in Canada? No, no they are not. Those engines are being produced in the UK by Roll Royce (gas turbines) and the diesel generators in Germany by Rolls Royce.
Armament:
- AOPS - its 25mm was not produced in Canada - .50 cals I don't believe were produced in Canada
- JSS - its CIWS (20mm) was not produced in Canada - .50 cals I don't believe were produced in Canada
- Rivers - long, long list of items here, but the main 127mm guns will not be produced here in Canada, the mk41's will not be produced here in Canada, 30mm autocannons will not be produced here in Canada, the .50 cals aren't produced in Canada, etc, etc, etc
Radar/Electronics:
- AOPS - Denmark played a role in the radar, LM Canada played a role, who else?
- JSS - LM Canada, SAAB played a role, who else?
- Rivers - LM Canada, LM US, Thales (France), who else?
Steel:
- AOPS - Canada, China, who else?
- JSS - Canada?, China?, who else?
- Rivers - ??
So for each of these classes, we, Canada produced the 'shell' of the class and in 1 class, AOPS, we produced the engine. It sounds a lot like making a car. Ford, Chrysler, GM, Honda, Toyota, KIA, etc, don't make the radios/touch screens that go into their vehicles. They don't make the tires that go on their cars, They don't make batteries, they don't make headlights, they don't make the steering wheel, the windows, none of that. They focus on the design and the manufacturing of the vehicle frame (in most cases), and they farm out the specs to others and then they pull it altogether and assembly it.
In each of the above classes, Svalbard, Berlin and Type 26, someone designed them and sold them to us and we in turn added some 'Canadian' flavour to them and then we started manufacturing the frame and farmed out to others (mostly foreign companies), the production of the 'radio, tires, windows, engine, seats, floormats, etc, etc,' and then we pulled it altogether and assembled it all.
Where am I going with this? The US has said that the F-47 is a US only project, no partners, no foreigners will be a part of it.
So this means for us to team up with SAAB only, or SAAB, Germany & Spain or with GCAP (UK, Japan & Italy) or France, or go it completely alone, the reality is that in each of those scenarios certain key aspects of a 6th gen fighter will incorporate key pieces of its puzzle from 'vendor's most likely outside it set of partners. In NO situation do I see GCAP or SAAB/German/Spain (Canada), or France not having to incorporate outside partners.
Pulling this back to the discussion of potential 4-4.5th gen fighters assembled in Canada or even potential 6th gen fighters manufactured/assembled in Canada, I view it as pretty much the same situation as what the NSS was talking about 15ish years ago. Do we believe that the ability to manufacture parts of and have final assemble of, a 4.5, 5 or 6 gen fighter is needed within Canada? I would argue that this question is absolutely NO different than the question, 'Do we believe that Canada should have the ability to manufacture parts of and have final assembly of a modern warship within Canada?' They are 1 and the same question.
With all this being said, the need, the requirement, for us to have the F35 now and going forward into the future should be apparent to anyone rationally looking at the lay of the land. I do believe that 72+ are needed. Going forward, whatever path we chose, we need to look back at the same discussions around the NSS and make our decisions based off of those discussions. If we are to be an independent, sovereign nation into the future, then we must have to ability to produce some sort of fighter program at a scale where their numbers do make a difference in any future potential conflict.
