fighter jet series by Michael Bussière
Is it time for Canada to step up to the F-35 plate?
T
he day will soon arrive when the Government of Canada must decide on which fighter jet it will purchase for the RCAF. Other countries have recently been facing a similar choice, and in many cases they have been opting for the Lockheed Martin F-35.
consumers logging issues with tech support via automated reports. It’s a free way to test the minutia, and it don’t much matter if the evolution of your city-state in Civilization VI gets stuck in a hierarchical strange loop. But fighter jets have to fly, and they have to fight, and their bugs are big and costly, so you don’t want to get stuck with a
The R&D program responsible for the slick plane was established by a consortium of nine partner countries: The feds can take comfort the U.S., the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Australia, in knowing that many of our allies, Norway, Denmark and Canada. Turkey was set to buy 100 F-35A conventional and even nice, neutral Switzerland takeoff-and-landing models, but was have been ordering the F-35. given the boot in 2019 by the U.S. after accepting delivery of the Russian turkey of a plane; ergo, the extreme S-400 air defence system. The removal caution by governments, especially of Turkish parts suppliers, whose high good ol’ Canada. quality components come at a good price, drove the cost of the engines up The feds can take comfort in knowing by as much as 3 per cent, according to that many of our allies, and even nice, engine builder Pratt & Whitney. neutral Switzerland have been ordering the F-35. NATO pals, including the Fighter jets of any variety, like all United Kingdom, Norway, Italy, the military hardware, are on the opposite Netherlands and Denmark, have side of the soft launch scale from purchased 49 to date, according to consumer software. Game developers, Lockheed Martin’s website. U.S. Air for example, will drop new products Force Gen. Tod Wolters, NATO’s on to the market, bugs and all, and supreme commander for Europe, issue patches as needed in response to 26 OTTAWALIFE SUMMER 2021
recently predicted that as many as 400 more 35s could be deployed on the continent by 2030 as the coalition continues to build its fifth-generation fighter capability. In 2018, the Royal Navy conducted the first-ever Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing (SRVL) with an F-35B Lightning II joint strike fighter jet, which touched down on the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth without having to jettison fuel or weapons, and while carrying a heavy load. It was an impressive maneuver, and part of the first combat mission from the new ship, striking Daesh targets in the Middle East. Britain originally planned to buy 138 jets, but has yet to commit to numbers and a timeline. This fall, RAF Base Lakenheath, located 130 kms northeast of London, will become the first permanent UK-based home of a U.S. F-35 fleet serving Europe. Last fall, Norway announced a new Long Term Plan for its armed forces and increases in spending to strengthen its preparedness. It shares many of the same defence concerns, commitments and territorial needs as Canada. New
