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.
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Yeah the upgrade program helped with the currency issue, but the airframes themselves have fairly definitive service lives.
Here's an article discussing this issue...the US Navy models are subjected to carrier landings which ours are not, which helps a bit. Even the F-18E/F - which is a considerable newer aircraft than the early A/B models that Canada owns are showing signs of wear.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/20100317.aspx