The western media is shaking in their collective boots about the nuclear weapons mentioned in Putin's announcement, but they have totally ignored perhaps the most important revelation and that is the information about the Kinzhai (Dagger).
They are operational in the Southern Military District on board MiG-31. I don't doubt that SU-30/34/35 can carry them as well.
On board the MiG-31 makes this a very formidable weapons system. Without any notion of hyperbole, naval warfare as we know it is finished. We have entered a new era where no modern or prospective air defense system deployed by any NATO fleet can intercept a single Kinzhai. A salvo of six or so of these missiles will decimate a carrier battle group.
New Chinese combat aircraft broke cover in a flood of social media photos and videos on Dec. 26 showing them in flight and revealing two new examples of China’s evolution as an aerospace innovator.
One new aircraft appeared in social media posts revealing a large, three-engine warplane with a cockpit and diamond-style wing with no vertical tails. Yaw control appears to be managed by Northrop Grumman B-2-style split rudders.
In light of the deteriorating relationship with the U.S., South Korea is courting Canada as potential customer and defense partner.
I hope we go this direction. Australia and Poland, two countries very serious about building a strong military, have already joined on to have South Korea become their main arms supplier.
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Assembly jobs are great but I think developing home grown defense systems is a big stretch.
DND is firmly committed to the F-35 and the state of the pilot trade in the forces is already bad enough, if we flip on this it is going to really blow things up.
- 10,000 jobs
- technology transfer
- first jets ready in 3 years
- pilots trained in Canada vs USA
Gripen E seems like a great fighter for what Canada faces. Intercepting Bears testing our air space.
I'd like us to get the SAAB AWACS equivalent too - that thing is supposed to be amazing.
The KF21 is neat - but it could be quite a bit longer before it is ready. If techtransfer and jobs were on the table for that one, I think I'd prefer it.
Last edited by Badgers Nose; 11-14-2025 at 12:23 AM.
Although I understand the advantages of the F35, Saab really isn't a huge gap to bridge in terms of capability. It's still the same generation of fighter. Having some cost control, the economic benefit, strengthening ties with an important ally, access to parts and upgrades without political interference, and literally everything else political going on here....
I'm not going to lie, I've been Team Saab from the beginning, and the more unstable the US gets, the more it's looking like a good idea.
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There's no real comparison between the SAAB and the F-35, that's not to say that the SAAB isn't a good little fighter, but it costs about the same as a F-35, though the F-35 is more expensive in flying costs. But in terms of capabilities the F-35 is far ahead, and for a small airforce like Canada's it makes a lot more sense, and when the F-35 gets the Block 4 upgrade its going to be massively deadly.
I'm wondering how the American's will react if Canada makes a deal to assemble in Canada, remember that the JAS 39's engines are Americans, and the American's have a say in the export of those engines.
We also know that Trump is unhinged, if he see's this as a threat to American Aviation, he might throw another set of tariffs on us.
I was reading up on the Submarine purchase concept, and I'm onboard with it, though I would like a actual open competition between the Korean Boats and some of the other conventional boats out there. I did like that one Canadians General who said that we need to buy them off of the shelf and not Canadianize them.
I haven't heard much on the River Class Destroyers, though Austrailia bought the same frame, and they are somewhat regretting the decision as the ships are slower then expected, have several safety issues as well.
But its about time that we thought seriously about our defense spending, but we left it for so long that a lot of everything needs replacing as soon as possible.
We still need to be more serious on the air defense front, and the DOD needs to take a leading role on Cyber Defense as well.
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