Quote:
Originally Posted by photon
I don't think it was far fetched at the time because we had the expertise and industry to at least make it feasible.
Sure we could come up with a Canadian solution, probably a great one, if we gave it the same kind of resources as a modern fighter development takes.
But there's a reason that the UK and Italy and Denmark and Canada and a bunch of others are involved in the F-35 program rather than rolling their own.
Canada could make it's own fighters, if we wanted to increase the per unit cost by a factor of 10. People balk at a cost of $120M each, what about $1.2B each.. there's a lot better things we could do with the rest of our military with that money.
We don't have the expertise and industry currently to design and build something like that, so that would make it even more expensive.
If we could get a bunch of countries to go in and buy some then it might make it more reasonable, but there's already a long list of established lines out there, convincing someone to bet on a brand new untested company and industry? Not gonna happen.
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When I look at the current social and political landscape in Canada, I find that it has been a long time since we have had a singular emblem on which to tie our dreams and identity. Almost every accomplishment over the last number of decades has been the result of singular individuals and not as a direction the country as a whole has embarked on.
I put a lot of value into something akin to what the space program was for the Americans.
If the equivalent to buying 65 F35s at approx. $138 million a piece is that we only produce 7 Arrows...
...I would be willing to bet that if on the promise that half the fleet is based out of Cold Lake, a referendum in Alberta would approve 1.2 billion in oil sands revenue (I'd love to link this to enforcement of the 35% premium that the industry has loopholed, but I digress) to go towards one plane per year...
...given a 15 year window that would put 22 Arrows in the air by the year 2029, starting with 12 by 2019 if it was all quickly approved.
And augment this with the absolute lowest cost 4th generation fighters that we can put in the air, to meet our obligations.
In terms of an absolutely massive boost to Canadian pride and identity, international reputation, and rejuvenation of a lost industry, I'd much rather have 22 Arrows in our skies than 65 F35s. Especially since the Americans are producing 2443 F35s for themselves. In the bigger picture we are a drop in the F35 bucket.
That said, the reasons that this would never happen far outweigh the reasons it could. It would take a massive amount of political will, that we haven't seen in Canada since... I don't know... Diefenbaker?
It would just be the most awesome and unifying thing that Canada has done in over 40 years or more. Instead we will just twin a highway, or buy an icebreaker that doesn't work in winter or something. That's good, too.