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Originally Posted by Zulu29
The Hawk is a trainer aircraft on loan to the CF, not sure where you're going there...
What issues will the Eurofighter have? It's already flying and seen combat. The F-35 is a flying lemon that has had setback after setback, cost the conservativs big political points and ran way over budget. Besides, even if we were to get the F-35 it's not like 65 jets would make a big difference anyway. The comms system doesn't work in the arctic and it loses stealth as soon as it carries an external weapon or fuel pod.
Canada doesn't need to be doing stealth first strike missions anyway. Leave that to the US, we need some aircraft for the same tasks as Libya and Bosnia. We also need them for sovereignty patrols. Get a cheaper aircraft and get more of them.
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It doesn't lose stealth with an external weapons loadout, its radar signature increases but still shows up as an object the size of a bird.
Most radar systems will filter small objects out, to get an even better effect you throttle back your speed on low altitude runs.
Stealth is a pure force multiplier, it allows you to sneak in, punch your enemy in the mouth first and sneak back out. This is especially true in a missile environment when your firing from a long distance.
Stealth gives you the initiative and most of the airforces in the world are pushing for stealth platforms because frankly you need less of them.
The communication issue is a bit of a red herring as the software is expected to be completed by the time the jets were set to be delivered, on top of that it was a similar problem to the one encountered by the CF-18. Its not a design issue on the CF-35, its a standard issue that was overcome by attaching a 3rd party communication pod to the cf-18's.
The same technology could be adapted by the f-35.
A lot of the issues with the f-35 are serious issues around the B and C variants or the VTOL and the naval carrier variants.
There's no question that the F-35 is one of the most complex jets ever designed and most of the complexity is based around the demanding software requirements, however the software release of the block 3 component is about 90 to 120 days behind and Lockheed Martin is expecting is to be completed and validated before the 2015 Marine Deployment date.. There's also a problem with the revolutionary helmet that is needed to fight the plane. As of September the Helmet has met its rudimentary requirements and they have dedicated a test bed aircraft. The issue with the helmet is how it displays information, however they still need to do more tests in night and harsh weather conditions.
They are also having some problems with the ALIS software which is used to manage maintenance on the plane and communicate with ground crews. That will be one of the biggest software issues to overcome.
Of course we know that the cost has sky rocketed on the CF-18 to about 135 million per bird. But if you look at the silent eagle which is still in development and not manufacture, the Super Hornet which is 60 to 80 million per copy or the Eurofighter which is between 70 and 90 million euro's per copy and the f-35 and its way more advanced capabilities isn't outside of the realm of an option as you can get away with a smaller fleet.
The main report on the f-35 fixes in terms of software and helmet are expected to be fixed at or before the 2015 marine corp deployment date which is still a few years before Canada would take delivery of the plane.