Back to the topic at hand, a few questions about options. I get that we’re only contractually committed to the first batch of 16 F-35s but presumably that’s not a practical number to stop at as it’s just enough to equip a squadron plus. So assuming we were going to go with a mixed fleet (expensive I know but we did it until we scrapped the CF-5s I believe and many of the other countries acquiring the F-35 are also operating other airframes, including the Aussies), what’s the minimum we would want for the F-35s and would we want them in an expeditionary strike role or for NORAD? My guess is somewhere in the range of 50 to equip an expeditionary wing but have nothing to base that on but my gut. (I too know nothing but that was already taken as a handle….)
And then what aircraft would we choose to allow us to quickly retire the CF-18s and replace them with a current generation fighter to stay current with our allies until 6th generation comes online. It seems to me that, notwithstanding the SAAB offer to build in Canada, the Grippen is out based on too much US content, especially the engines. On top of which, setting up the capacity to build just for our own purposes seems likely to be an expensive proposition. So Typhoon or Rafale? I see both are still in production with recent orders on the books and upgrades rolling out. Typhoon would seem to offer more allied interoperability if that matters in the context, which it might not if we were buying them primarily for air defence. Or would we also be using them in combination with the F-35s in an expeditionary role as well?
And how many? I’m assuming that, in the current security environment, we’d be talking about a net increase in the number of aircraft/squadrons, not to the scale of the 50s and 60s perhaps but at least to what we had with the CF-18s in the 80s? Or given the recruitment/training/retention challenges is that just a pipe dream?
