[CaptainCrunch]

I'm dissapointed in the F-35 program and totally torn by the whole thing. I'm still convinced that the capabilities, the expected lifeterm, the benefits for international deployment if necessary and the technology benefits would make the F-35 the right fit for Canada going forward for the next 35 to 40 years.

I'm not sure that the F-18 Super hornet is that plane.

The idea of buying a plane that all of our allies were/are going to buy has some real key benefits.

The Super Hornet is a nice plane, but it is completely different then the CF-18 in technology and characteristics so its not like we could use the same procurement, maintenance and pilot training that we use currently. We would have to revamp our airforce infrastructure to use the Super Hornet. On top of that, part of the Air Force strategy behind the F-35 was that the force miltiplier was so great that we could get away with less jets then we currently have. With the Super Hornet you don't get the same force multiplier.

On top of that the Super Hornet is a fourth generation fighter or a fourth generation airframe which means that the possible upgrade paths will limit the life of the plane. It would be a stop gap and nothing more, especially now where the major aviation powers are working frantically on 5th generation stealth platorms, the Super Hornet could be outclassed in the next 15 years.

I don't understand the prevailing sentiment of the whole drone theory. The Canadian arctic airforce defense is built around the concept of intercepting and shooting down fighters, and being able to bring maximum air to ground force against an invading force. A drone doesn't carry enough of a payload to be effective on long sorties and drones aren't effective air to air platforms and probably won't be for a long time yet.

You can use drones for intelligence gathering and selective targeting due to a smaller payload. But drones can't beat an F-35 or a F-18 carrying 18000 pounds of mixed ordinance.

Technology specs wise the F-35 is the best platform that Canada would get, especially with the limited size of our airforce and the demand that it have a nearly half century life requirements.

Cost wise, I'm not so certain, however all of the allies are looking at this price and hedging which might make Lockheed Martin fix price it just to save the plane.

I belive that we are tied in lockstep with the North American aviation industry and buying a plane like the F-35 or even a Super Hornet would create jobs and other economic benefits. I don't believe that we can effectively buy outside of North America because most of those perspective partners shouldn't be involved in our defense strategy.

I would think that the smart move would be to not do another panic exploration of alternatives and to see what the cost would be of a crash extention of the F-18 line for another 5 years until the F-35 shakes out.