The RCAF's Next Generation Fighter (CF-188 Replacement)

[ArmyRick]

Can we hire soon to be retired Captain (Navy) Pete "Maverick" Mitchell who is soon retiring from the United States Navy to be like the head of the F35 fighter pilot training program? He is got a pretty good resume and can totally rock a pair of mirror sunglasses.

 

[dimsum]

Can we hire soon to be retired Captain (Navy) Pete "Maverick" Mitchell who is soon retiring from the United States Navy to be like the head of the F35 fighter pilot training program? He is got a pretty good resume and can totally rock a pair of mirror sunglasses.

Nope - he wasn’t qualified on the F-35 in the movie

 

[ArmyRick]

Nope - he wasn’t qualified on the F-35 in the movie

Wasn't he? Or did I miss something? I thought they didn't use the F35 because it was GPS reliant or some wizardy thing like that?

 

[desindarfur]

Maybe this shows my age. The F35 purchase reminds me of the Sea King/EH101 fiasco of the Nineties. There was a signed contract to replace the Sea Kings with the Westland EH101. The problem was the deal had made by the Mulroney PCs. The Liberals cancelled the deal after they came to office, and paid a substantial penalty ($150 million?). The Sea King was already well past it's best before date at the time. The Liberals dithered for the rest of the decade before buying an air/sea rescue verson of the EH101. They eventually bought a Sea King replacement from Sikorsky.

 

[NavyShooter]

King Solomon is purported to have said:

"There is nothing new under the sun."

I think we're seeing another example of this here...

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Thankfully our adversaries/potential adversaries are limiting their #s to match ours so we won’t have any issue just buying 88.

Maybe this shows my age. The F35 purchase reminds me of the Sea King/EH101 fiasco of the Nineties. There was a signed contract to replace the Sea Kings with the Westland EH101. The problem was the deal had made by the Mulroney PCs. The Liberals cancelled the deal after they came to office, and paid a substantial penalty ($150 million?). The Sea King was already well past its best before date at the time. The Liberals dithered for the rest of the decade before buying an air/sea rescue verson of the EH101. They eventually bought a Sea King replacement from Sikorsky.

I thought it was $500 million.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Thankfully our adversaries/potential adversaries are limiting their #s to match ours so we won’t have any issue just buying 88.


I thought it was $500 million.

Four Hundred and seventy-eight million dollars to be precise.

 

[Dana381]

$887,531,339.56 in todays money!

 

[CBH99]

Out of curiosity, any sense of whether a ‘cool, new’ fighter might promote retention, or help attract new techs who may then stick it out?

My sense is that it certainly won’t hurt…

It may even attract more techs to the RCAF, but on short term contracts, as they get experience on next generation aircraft before leaving for the private sector.

(Kids are taught basic coding in school now, and basic coding & cyber jobs with the GoC start at $100,000 a year…I have a hunch the F-35 and it’s various upgrades over the decades will lend some valuable experience to people getting into those fields.)

 

[CBH99]

I'm sure it's the same 'logic' that says 15 CSC will be able to replace 4 destroyers and 12 frigates. Or the same logic that thinks 2 AOR's across 2 oceans is enough for 15 CSC, 6 AOPS, 4 Vic's and a dozen Kingstons?

I have zero reason to believe that the F35's will not be asked to fly the same number of years as the CF18's have been. As its been pointed out we bought 138 of them - 98 single seaters and another 40 for training. In addition we went out and bought another 18 from Australia for a grand total of 156 planes. Of that number we have approximately 76 serviceable - less than 50%. If we follow that trend 45yrs out from now we'll have around 40 F35's serviceable - is 40 enough for us to meet NORAD and NATO commitments? Of the 40, how many are airworthy at any one time - half? 2/3? 1/3?

Churchill asked Air Vice Marshall Park at the peak of the Battle of Britain - 'What other reserves have we?' Park replied - 'There are none.'

As for the 6 pack deployments - 30yrs ago we deployed 26 to Kuwait and then 18 Kosovo 10yrs later. Now we are down to deploying 6 planes - notice the trend? Does 6 planes allow us to sit with the adults or will the kiddies? Does 6 planes do much towards keeping us in the G7? In 5 Eyes, which is quickly morphing into 3 Eyes because us the Kiwi's are not pulling our weight?

As the next generation of military tech comes online, it’s inevitably more expensive.

Ignoring inflation, what was used in something as recent as Vietnam isn’t even in the same league as stuff arming the world’s militaries today.

In peace time, we can only expect governments to care so much & invest so much.


The one thing we can all hope for is there is a ‘loss replacement program’ of sorts put into place sometime in the near future. (Impossible to do with orphan fleets)

With the sheer number of F-35’s slated to roll off the lines over the next decade or two, hopefully we can arrange for the odd replacement when needed

 

[FSTO]

All I can say is that the verbal contortions the Minister and other cabinet members are doing these days to justify by the same plane their boss rejected in 2015 would make Rex Murphy proud.

 

[dimsum]

All I can say is that the verbal contortions the Minister and other cabinet members are doing these days to justify by the same plane their boss rejected in 2015 would make Rex Murphy proud.

Has the PM said anything though?

 

[dimsum]

basic coding & cyber jobs with the GoC start at $100,000 a year

The ones I know of require a Bachelors in Computer Science - some friends of mine were looking to apply a while back but they had the college diploma.

 

[FSTO]

Has the PM said anything though?

He’ll likely say “Have you read “Spare” yet?”

 

[Halifax Tar]

Has the PM said anything though?

What can he say ? This must be embarrassing.

 

[Good2Golf]

What can he say ? This must be embarrassing.

For a guy who has three ethical conduct strikes against him and counting, I think ‘embarrassing’ Is a word not found in his vocabulary.

 

[Halifax Tar]

For a guy who has three ethical conduct strikes against him and counting, I think ‘embarrassing’ Is a word not found in his vocabulary.

You're probably right, I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Good2Golf]

You're probably right, I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I did in the early days, but then he ran my benefit of the doubt tank dry…

 

[FormerHorseGuard]

The US Air Force has already expanded the life span of the F35 frame to 2070, wanna bet that Canada will sur pass the 2070s?

The USMC F35B is already having life span issues due to structural problems, looking at 2026 as retirement dates for block block 2 frames, and spare parts shortages. 8000 hr life expectancy but 2100 hour life is being considered .

www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a26102065/f-35s-unflyable/

But I have great faith in the government of Canada to push beyond 2070, 2095 or better is my guess

 

[OldSolduer]

You're probably right, I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

As much as I hate to say this I figured he’d turn out like this. Senior was a weasel as well.

My apologies to the weasels.