Excellent article. The Gripen deal is a no brainer for Canada. For the life of me, I cannot understand nor comprehend why our top military leaders are so enamored with the F-35. given all that is taking place.
You are correct Fred, we need to be independent on how all of this is controlled. We don't need an orange ball taking a tantrum & rendering millions of dollars in fighter planes, useless, by the flick of a switch, or important data changes. We simply cannot trust that man.
This has been around the block a few times. I stated once before that we should buy F35s to meet our NORAD commitments and Gripens for our Canadian commitments. As I recall I was corrected when it was pointed out that we can meet NORAD requirements without F35s. My thinking was that the U.S. was less likely to sabotage hardware they worked with day to day for mutual protection.
The Gripen is much better suited for our Northern needs and for our sovereignty needs. This choice also offers commercial advantages. We are forming alliances with our Northern neighbors and strengthening relationships with our European allies confident that this aircraft meets our NATO needs as well.
I believe that the decision has already been made, just not announced. There are signs of movement with the Bombardier contracts and the discussion of a Rolls Royce engine line in Canada. I believe the announcement is being deferred until after CUSMA has been negotiated. Then the argument will turn to convincing the RCAF that this direction is in Canada's best interests!
It was my understanding that Canada was seriously looking at the Grippen, which I totally agree with, seems we have an issue though in that we contracted with the the US for the F35, that could not be easily backed away from. If we could, I would say, do it! Certainly don't increase any contracts with the US.
Excellent article. The Gripen deal is a no brainer for Canada. For the life of me, I cannot understand nor comprehend why our top military leaders are so enamored with the F-35. given all that is taking place.
I get why they lean F-35 Ron... it’s proven and deeply integrated with allies.
But that same integration is exactly where the long-term risk sits.
You are correct Fred, we need to be independent on how all of this is controlled. We don't need an orange ball taking a tantrum & rendering millions of dollars in fighter planes, useless, by the flick of a switch, or important data changes. We simply cannot trust that man.
We can still work with allies... just not in a way that puts core control out of our hands.
Exactly!!! Thanks eh? haha
This has been around the block a few times. I stated once before that we should buy F35s to meet our NORAD commitments and Gripens for our Canadian commitments. As I recall I was corrected when it was pointed out that we can meet NORAD requirements without F35s. My thinking was that the U.S. was less likely to sabotage hardware they worked with day to day for mutual protection.
The Gripen is much better suited for our Northern needs and for our sovereignty needs. This choice also offers commercial advantages. We are forming alliances with our Northern neighbors and strengthening relationships with our European allies confident that this aircraft meets our NATO needs as well.
I believe that the decision has already been made, just not announced. There are signs of movement with the Bombardier contracts and the discussion of a Rolls Royce engine line in Canada. I believe the announcement is being deferred until after CUSMA has been negotiated. Then the argument will turn to convincing the RCAF that this direction is in Canada's best interests!
It was my understanding that Canada was seriously looking at the Grippen, which I totally agree with, seems we have an issue though in that we contracted with the the US for the F35, that could not be easily backed away from. If we could, I would say, do it! Certainly don't increase any contracts with the US.
This is a great article and I still believe Canada should only buy the required number of f-35 and the rest Gripen