Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
Getting off-topic here...
I heard the pilot who ejected at Lethbridge a few weeks interviewed on the radio this week. He claimed Canada's fleet of CF-18s have all recently been through a modernization upgrade program and spoke very highly of their capabilities. That's not to say we can keep using them forever, but they're hardly past their "best before date" in the same way as our Sea Kings.
Are they a match for the most modern American (F-22) or Russian (PAK FA) fighters? Of course not, but they're certainly capable of facing any threats Canada could conceivably encounter in the short-medium term.
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Its one thing to upgrade the avionics, the problem isn't in the electronics or even the control systems. The problem is the airframe itself and the fact that they are wearing out and developing microfractures, there was also an incident a couple of years ago where a wornout bomb railing (don't know if thats a point) broke midflight dropping its cargo.
The 18's were never ment to be a 40 year aircraft.