A nation that takes national defense seriously, and then there's Canada...
Australia may buy more Super Hornets amid F-35 delays
"(Reuters) - Australia is considering buying 18 Boeing-built Super Hornet warplanes for around $1.6 billion to plug a hole in defence capabilities left by expected delays in Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a report said on Monday.
Australian defence officials plan to raise concerns about project delays and the possibility of a serious gap in Australia's air defences from 2020 onwards when they visit the United States this week, the Australian newspaper said.
Military chiefs were preparing options to plug the gap, including the A$1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) purchase of 18 extra F/A-18F Super Hornets, adding to 24 of the aircraft bought in 2007 to fill a strategic hole, the paper said, without naming sources."
I'm trying to conceive of our Canadian "minority" government snapping up a total of 42 F/A-18F Super Hornets just to keep our DND in top form, while we wait for our 65 new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to hit the ground. (For some reason this image of flying pigs keeps popping up in my mind...)
They're ultimately replacing 71 F-18 Hornets now in service.
And how many F-35s are they considering to this end?
"Australia plans to buy up to 100 stealthy F-35 Lightning's for an estimated A$16 billion and has so far ordered 14, with the air force's first squadron hoping to be operational by 2018"
That would be 100, for an estimated $16 billion (Australian dollars).
Keep in mind, Australia is a nation of 22,000,000, two thirds that of Canada, with a DND charged with protecting considerably less area and coastal waters.
But here's the kicker...
"Australia has already begun a multi-billion-dollar upgrade of its military that includes new air defense destroyers, two large amphibious assault ships, helicopters, tanks, long-range cruise missiles and 12 new submarines costing $25 billion."
Ummm...I'll pause now while you take a moment to pick your jaw up off the floor.
Okay, it's only fair to mention that Australia faces their own brand of challenges regarding national defense. They're relatively isolated over there on the far side of the Pacific, and not all that far removed from potentially aggressive nations like China and N. Korea. They also happen to have experienced attacks by foreign forces on their sovereignty.
Which is to say, they understand what "national defense" truly is all about.
Additionally, they're not members of mutual defense organizations like NATO and NORAD, with their formidable and immediate clout upon whom Canada can rely should push ever come to shove.
Not to mention that Aussies don't share a common border with the world's most potent military super power.
Nevertheless, in bringing forward these comparisons with a nation with whom we have very much in common historically, culturally, and politically, the point I'm trying to make here is this:
I find the positions eternally adopted by Canada's Liberal/Left regarding our own national defense disgraceful and repugnant. Their approach to re-equipping our Canadian air force with F-35s, as put forward in no uncertain terms during this election, simply stated is just more of the same old tired and defeatist bullshit that has come to be the underpinnings of their ideological contempt for all things military, and their pathetically amateurish, childish, and impotent notions of what Canadian sovereignty is all about. The very foundation of the Liberals' concept of defense of our own air, lands, and seas rests upon a delusional, yet stunningly smug, certainty that in the event of any real threat to Canada, it simply is a given that the Americans will rush to cover our sorry asses for us, period, end of story.
I can still remember Stephane Dion's shockingly astounding flippancy during a parliamentary debate on Canada's ability to defend our Arctic sovereignty, when he quipped, to paraphrase: "What are we going to do, go to war with the Russians?" MPs on his side of the house clearly thought this was damn funny stuff, as they all shared in a good laugh.
IOW, message to Russians, and anyone else with designs on our Arctic treasure: You want it? It yours, come and get it! We already give up.
The unspoken, but still tacitly understood assumption being, of course, providing the good ol' US of A...you know, our reliable big brother just to the south of us...will ever in your wildest dreams let you get away with it.
How utterly and appallingly shameless can they possibly get.
I can't help but think that the hundreds of thousands who fought for the freedom of Canada during the 20th century, and the tens of thousands who died for it, must be turning in their graves.
ff topic:
