This article explains a few reasons why Canada doesn't want the F-35:
1) Cost
2) Canada doesnt need a strike/light bomber aircraft capability like the F-35 offers, it needs a patrol/fighter aircraft.
3) There is still a chance Canada will buy F-35s if price is lowered
.At a recent meeting at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., Gen. Mike Hostage, chief of the U.S. air force’s combat command, provided more details on the plane his organization wants to buy. The sixth generation aircraft would not be a drone and instead would be flown by a pilot. The air force would need the new plane around 2030 and it will be equipped with what he called “game-changing capability,” he noted.[/size]“We don’t yet know what it is but we’re out there looking carefully,” Hostage said at the conference.
[/size]The air force would keep the F-35s flying as well, at least for the mid-term. “I need the F-35 to add a fifth-generation layer to make the fourth-generation force effective out to 2030,” Hostage said.
[/size]But Rideau Institute president Steve Staples said the U.S. military plans for a new jet shows the folly of the Conservative government’s original plan to buy the F-35. “This is just a huge treadmill being paid for by public dollars and you can be sure that before the paint is dry on any F-35s Canada buys, our generals will be claiming they need a so-called sixth generation fighter as well,” said Staples, a critic of the F-35 and excessive defence spending.
[/size]He said the current fleet of Canadian CF-18s could be kept flying and used for the defence of North America for years to come. The only role for new fighters is to support U.S. operations and “shock and awe” campaigns against other nations, Staples added.
[/size]Staples pointed out that that term “game-changing capability” had also been used to describe the technology outfitted in the F-35s. “The only thing changing is that the cost keeps going up for these type of aircraft,” he added.[/size]
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Canada+purchase+stalls+already+pushing+sixth+generation+fighter+2030/7690204/story.html#ixzz2H2swogwz
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1) Cost
2) Canada doesnt need a strike/light bomber aircraft capability like the F-35 offers, it needs a patrol/fighter aircraft.
3) There is still a chance Canada will buy F-35s if price is lowered
.At a recent meeting at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., Gen. Mike Hostage, chief of the U.S. air force’s combat command, provided more details on the plane his organization wants to buy. The sixth generation aircraft would not be a drone and instead would be flown by a pilot. The air force would need the new plane around 2030 and it will be equipped with what he called “game-changing capability,” he noted.[/size]“We don’t yet know what it is but we’re out there looking carefully,” Hostage said at the conference.
[/size]The air force would keep the F-35s flying as well, at least for the mid-term. “I need the F-35 to add a fifth-generation layer to make the fourth-generation force effective out to 2030,” Hostage said.
[/size]But Rideau Institute president Steve Staples said the U.S. military plans for a new jet shows the folly of the Conservative government’s original plan to buy the F-35. “This is just a huge treadmill being paid for by public dollars and you can be sure that before the paint is dry on any F-35s Canada buys, our generals will be claiming they need a so-called sixth generation fighter as well,” said Staples, a critic of the F-35 and excessive defence spending.
[/size]He said the current fleet of Canadian CF-18s could be kept flying and used for the defence of North America for years to come. The only role for new fighters is to support U.S. operations and “shock and awe” campaigns against other nations, Staples added.
[/size]Staples pointed out that that term “game-changing capability” had also been used to describe the technology outfitted in the F-35s. “The only thing changing is that the cost keeps going up for these type of aircraft,” he added.[/size]
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Canada+purchase+stalls+already+pushing+sixth+generation+fighter+2030/7690204/story.html#ixzz2H2swogwz
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