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

[Colin Parkinson]

They also didnt operate Army and Naval rotary wing - so cut a few thousand off the total we have now.

The RCAF was also responsible for the Pinetree line, peaking at above 26 stations and 7 closing in the 1970's and 22 more closing late 1980's early 90's Pinetree Line - Wikipedia

I did stay once at the station near Kamloops, pretty laid back place for a military installation.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Yup, could very well be.

And if we did end up with 88 F35's, guess what? We are going to have to increase the number of RCAF personnel because we are not flying 88 or 78 or most likely even 68 CF-188's right and as a result, we are going to have to recruit/train more personnel for 88 F35's if we end up with that number.

Considering the F35 has a 50-60% availability rate, it isn’t likely we will have 88 ever able to fly at any given time unless we buy 160 of them.

Well... a fighter fleet is the core of any air force. Without it, none of the other air force capabilities or domains really would matter much in a peer conflict.

Depends, I would argue air defence seems to be more important than the fighters themselves these days. The fighters are more for projecting power than defending the other platforms. If you have solid air defence you don’t need a fighter and can protect the other aircraft just as well if not better.

The F35 program could cost close to 80 billion, that is a lot of air defence batteries for that money.