F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

[Good2Golf]

F-15SE is definitely a very nice airplane, and in a league that is well above Super Hornet.  It is the Gen4+ version of the "pre-" Gen 5 F-22 Raptor.

Unit cost, as I and others have noted is not always the best metric of value...what cost against fleet size? Acquisition only? Acqusition and in-service support? Acquisition, in-service support, and pers, ops and (non-ISS) maint?

Within total program cost "error bars" I'd 30% off single game price
25% off parking
Pre-order access and discounts on 2015-16 playoff tickets
20% off Sens Store merchandise
VIP points benefits program (for Sens experiences, free game tickets etc.)
Access to exclusive player meet-and-greets and other special events
Ticket exchange for 2 games
Flexible payment plan optionssay that F-15SE would be more than Grippen NG by a lot, more than Super Horney an Rafale by 'a bit', similar to F-35 and less than the Typhoon.

If I was a fighter pilot and someone offered to buy me lunch and gave me a Boeing menu to order from, it would be Silent Eagle.

:2c:

LOL...that was at the start of a long day at work...  ;D

For the record, I may have gone splits with my neighbour for a Flex Pack 20, but I'm still a Leaf > Habs > Bruins > Flyers before others guy....I cheered three times on Sunday, not once...and finished the night singing the "Olé, olé-o-lé!" song on the way to the parking lot (while half the Sens fans had already given up with 3:00 to 5:00 still left in the 3rd! 

G2G

 

[CougarKing]

Carrier trials done:

Defense News

F-35C completes carrier tests aboard the Ike
By Lance M. Bacon, Staff writer 3:45 p.m. EDT October 17, 2015

ABOARD CARRIER DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER IN THE ATLANTIC — Across the board success was how the test pilots scored the second carrier testing run for the Navy's F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, which wrapped up Oct. 9 aboard the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The multifaceted two-week flight test was used to develop launch and recovery bulletins. The former focused on 55,000 and 60,000-pound catapult shots at military, the catapult shot with standard jet thrust, and maximum power. The launches included internal stores such as simulated 2,000 pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions and AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles.

Test pilots found  the jet’s slowest airspeed cat shot. Officials were not ready to reveal that number, but there were launches in which the F-35C dipped well below the flight deck. The Navy typically sets the standard launch speed at 15 knots above the minimum.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[YZT580]

If the polls are right, this thread is finished. 

 

[Altair]

If the polls are right, this thread is finished.

Guess we'll find out tonight.

 

[PuckChaser]

Can still talk about the F-35. Something this large and multinational is going to have good discussion points.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

The NDP have a made in Canada solution

 

[NavyShooter]

Aye, but it won't matter for us.

Welcome to the EH-101 all over again...

The purported economic benefits to Canada of buying this will be worth how much to the Canadian economy again...?  Or rather, would have been?

NS

 

[Messerschmitt]

So is the F-35 scrapped? How many billions have we lost? (vs potentially saved if the cost kept pilling up?)
Get the Saab Gripen JAS 39E/F as apparently that's the only one that is significantly cheaper than the F-35

 

[PuckChaser]

Gripen isn't cheaper. Look what Brazil is paying to produce it in house, that technology isn't cheap.

 

[daftandbarmy]

If the polls are right, this thread is finished.

Here we go, strap in.  If you still have a budget for straps after tomorrow that is

Justin Trudeau vows to ditch F-35 in favour of ‘more affordable’ fighter jets and a ‘leaner’ military
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/justin-trudeau-vows-to-ditch-f-35

 

[OldSolduer]

Wait til our NATO allies introduce themselves to young Justin.

I'm sure there will be intense pressure to have Canada live up to commitments.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Canadians care more about cheaper cellphone plans than they do the CAF and leaner means less.  Is anyone really fooling themselves about what the likely plan is?

 

[jmt18325]

Canadians care more about cheaper cellphone plans than they do the CAF and leaner means less.  Is anyone really fooling themselves about what the likely plan is?

With keeping the current Conservative budget with increases, leaner is the only choice.  The Canada First Defence Strategy is utterly unaffordable at current funding levels.  That's why the promised review will be worthwhile.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Key phase "with current funding".  Joe and Jane Average Canadian don't generally tell their MPs they think more money should be handed over to defense.  The Liberals know this and won't risk loosing the reins in 4 years to make the 60k military voters happy.

 

[blacktriangle]

The Liberals know this and won't risk loosing the reins in 4 years to make the 60k military voters happy.

Nor should they.

It's now up to them to develop and implement (or not) their own defence policy. If that policy limits or rules out expeditionary combat, they would be (IMO) quite justified to organize and equip the CAF as such. We may not like it, but we'd have to accept it.

 

[Rifleman62]

Wings of Fury: Your buddy, ex Maj CF-18 pilot, Stephen Fuhr, Liberal, elected Kelowna Lake  Country was just on local TV reiterating his desire for the cancellation of the F-35. He is sure the new PM will do this.

Asked about a cabinet post he said he was qualified to be "Minister of Transportation, Veterans Affairs and Defense".

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Nor should they.

It's now up to them to develop and implement (or not) their own defence policy. If that policy limits or rules out expeditionary combat, they would be (IMO) quite justified to organize and equip the CAF as such. We may not like it, but we'd have to accept it.

I don't buy the idea Canada should sit and warm the bench, but agree with the last sentence.

 

[Kirkhill]

Wings of Fury: Your buddy, ex Maj CF-18 pilot, Stephen Fuhr, Liberal, elected Kelowna Lake  Country was just on local TV reiterating his desire for the cancellation of the F-35. He is sure the new PM will do this.

Asked about a cabinet post he said he was qualified to be "Minister of Transportation, Veterans Affairs and Defense".

Love a man that is sure of himself.  Certainly was qualified to be a fighter jock.

 

[CougarKing]

Some US politicians on Capitol Hill were quick to condemn Trudeau's new government:

Defense News

Top US Senator: Canada STUPID To Drop F-35
By Aaron Mehta and Joe Gould 10:51 p.m. EDT October 20, 2015

WASHINGTON — A top ranking US senator slammed Canadian Prime Minister-elect Justin Trudeau's plan to abandon the F-35 joint strike fighter, less than 24 hours after elections handed the reins of power to the leader of the Canadian Liberal Party.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who is president pro tempore of the US Senate, called the move "stupid" on Tuesday.

Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has touted his own role in bringing the first operational F-35 squadron to Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

"That's to their detriment because it's the most important fighter plane ever built," Hatch said of Canada and the F-35, respectively. "They have the right to do whatever they want to, but it's brilliant. If they want to have any kind of flight superiority, the F-35 gives it to them."

(...SNIPPED)

 

[dimsum]

Some US politicians on Capitol Hill were quick to condemn Trudeau's new government:

Defense News

It's about vindictive politics, not capabilities.

This could have been the best operational aircraft in the world and the Americans could have given it to us for free, but he would have decided to cancel it anyways as it would be seen as accepting one of Harper's decisions.  The twist of the knife was when he said he'd launch open competition, then specifically exclude the F-35 from entering into it.