[CaptainCrunch]

Lots of news on the fighter jet replacement program.

the Canadian Government announced today that they are going to wait 5 years to decide on a replacement for the CF-18 fighter jets which means we probably won't see new jets until probably 2025.

In the meantime we're going to spend a wack of money buying aging CF-18's from Australia and updating them airframe and avionics wise

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/12...ts_a_23304661/

It is absolutely, totally, nonsensical," Alan Williams, the former assistant deputy minister (materiel) for national defence, told HuffPost Canada ahead of the announcement. "There is no need to have interim jets. There is no need to waste billions of dollars, no need to train people on different platforms," he said. "Even if you admit there is a gap — which I don't think anyone seriously believes — the way to go about resolving it is exactly the opposite of what they are doing."

While the Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Jonathan Vance, said called the interim Australian jet purchase a "logical choice," Perry argued they aren't needed.
"Even if we are going to get aircraft from Australia that are pretty similar," he said, "they are still going to spend a bunch of money and devote a bunch of time... to put them through an upgrade.
"I think it would make a lot more sense just to spend all the time and all the money buying the 88 new aircraft as fast as we could, as an actual priority project for the government of Canada [rather] than spending time on an interim deal," he said.

l Stephenson, a retired colonel with 35 years experience flying fighter aircraft, also believes there is no gap.
"This capability gap is a figment of their imagination," he said.
"The funny thing is they have dismissed the experts saying there is a capability gap and now they are creating one in order to delay the competition," Stephenson told HuffPost.
He is concerned that the government's timeline for an open competition will be five years, and extend past two elections — "which is nonsense."

onservative MP Tony Clement, the critic for public services and procurement, also argues that there is no capability gap. Buying a "bucket of bolts" from Australia, he said, is a bad strategy that risks turning into a fiasco on a scale similar to Canada's purchase of second-hand submarines. In 1998, the Liberal government purchased four inexpensive submarines from Britain that were plagued with problems — from leaking torpedo tubes, to faulty welds and ventilation troubles.
"The record of the Canadian government when it comes to buying used is not comforting. I don't blame the Australians for trying to unload their 30-year-old jets, but we have to avoid being the biggest suckers in the world."
Williams said he finds the government's actions "very disingenuous."

More on the Australian purchase


http://www.cgai.ca/canada_looks_to_t...m_source=cdfai

Canada, as a long-time friend and ally, is more than welcome to the 39-year old planes, said an Australian air force F-18 aircraft technician I spoke with as we watched several of the fighters screaming into the sky last week, headed to an exercise over the Pacific Ocean.


The Hornets had been well maintained and considering their advanced years were in good shape, said the jet engine specialist. He warned, however, that because their airframes were old and had been pushed hard during multiple combat deployments to the Middle East, they had in some cases become badly corroded and needed repairs. There were also issues with outdated avionics. In other words, before they can enter service alongside Canada’s own aged CF-18s they will require costly, time-consuming upgrades.


Why, wondered this airman and others, was Canada buying 4th generation fighters from Australia, aircraft tracing their design back to the early 1970s, when the Australian government had concluded more than 10 years ago that its fleet of aging classic Hornets should be replaced—not upgraded—because upgrades would be a waste of public money?

So the question beyond, how stupid is this government when it comes to Jet Fighter replacement is how are they going to stand behind an open and fair competition for replacements when today they basically announced that they're banning Boeing from the Competition in support of a incompetent should have died years ago Bombardier, and have basically said that they're not buying the jet that they should be buying in the F-35.


In otherwords, Australia loves us because we're idiots



This thing is the used Submarines and pissed up helicopter replacement program all over again, overseen by a incompetent Minister of Defense and a completely ridiculous Public Works Program.



https://globalnews.ca/news/3912118/f...ade-challenge/