Avimimus said:
I find the whole question of requirements quite interesting:
- The F-35A isn't a bad choice if the airforce is intended to act as auxiliaries to larger NATO deployments.
- It is poorly suited to operating in the Canadian Arctic due to the lack of arrester hook (the F-35C would be a better choice in this case), less than exceptional range, and dubious cold weather capabilities, and lack of a twin engined layout (something Canadians tend to be very ideological about). Super-cruise would be very useful in such an environment as well. The Arctic interceptor requirement would really be best filled by an aircraft with specifications matching the Mig-31 (aircraft designed around defending a larger northern area).
- The F-35B could be easily dispersed and would allow a quick counter-attack capability (especially if nuclear capable) in the case of a war with the United States (or Canada being attacked during a hypothetical American civil war). It could also do the tasks of the F-35A pretty well. Note: I'm not endorsing such a purchase or civil war by speculating about it - just doing what militaries always do - contingency planning.
As a side note; the F-35A does have an arrestor hook for airfield operations, just like the F-16, F-15, etc.
For range, I don't see how it wouldn't meet Canadian requirements; the official 1200nmi range figure is a considerably low-balled figure considering that the jet has an A2G combat radius of 669nmi and an A2A combat radius of 760nmi.
Cold weather capabilities should be fine as well; it doesn't have heaters on its engine stators, but they've been operating fine in Alaska, and if iced-over runways are a concern they can be fitted with drag chutes like Norway's F-35As.
Twin engine would be more desirable for bird strike resistance, but you're unlikely to have a bird strike outside of gliding distance of a runway anyway. Other forms of engine failure are pretty unlikely these days.
Supercruise would also be desirable, but it does eat into your range, plus the F-35 should be able to supercruise a bit better with the upcoming thrust enhancements from the F135 Growth Option 1 or adaptive cycle engines.
As for F-35Bs, ignoring the hypothetical war with the US, they probably wouldn't be ideal; their combat radius is diminished, maintenance requirements and costs increased, physical capabilities (transonic / supersonic acceleration, manoeuvring, etc) are diminished, etc. Distributed operations could be desirable in case of ballistic or cruise missile attacks on Canadian airbases, but you could probably do that with F-35As with the money for the construction of dual-purpose highways, etc coming from the F-35A / F-35B cost difference.