Blowout soon fellow Stalker
A fun bit of history. It has now been exactly one hundred years to the day since George M. Cohan released the song Over There
The Wanderer
So when I went to library yesterday to get my NYPL library card renewed, I saw this book that caught my eye called The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History by Tonio Andrade, which argues that the main reason China fell behind the West during the late 18th and early 19th Centuries was less because they stagnated and more because they were out of practice due to nearly a century of relative peace, and they recovered militarily from the Opium Wars sooner than thought.
Me, I'm reading this to see if the thesis will convince me.
Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.
So, Boeing publicly snubbed Canada at a conference due to the Bombardier spat, and did a last minute cancellation of a press release regarding a Super Hornet procurement. So now Canada has ordered its military and bureaucrats to cut off contact with Boeing until further notice.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/boeing-fighter-jets-announcement-cancelled-1.4141267
You know, at this point we might as well just contact Dassault, Saab, or Eurofighter. American companies can't be trusted to not try and maul our industries while Cheeto is in office.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Bring back Avro, and start scalping for talent from other aerspace companies. I see no particular reason why Canada should feel beholden to buying kit from the US other than lower shipping and handling costs.
It would take us decades to recreate an Avro analogue (or nationalize and re-militarize Bombardier). We need a new fighter now. And a Canadian fighter wouldn't be able to compete with the bit players (India, South Korea, Sweden), let alone the big boys (US, Russia, EU, Sweden, France). No point to it.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe Lockheed is the best solution when it comes to getting a fighter that works with our supply lines. They don't compete with us domestically, and eventually the F-35A will be a great platform. Pity the thing is politically toxic.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Could you imagine if Clinton's administration had said "Fuck no" to the idiotic idea of havine one plane for 3 different roles?
We'd probably have 400+ F-35As by now.
New Survey coming this weekend!
Why not just buy from Europe? France would probably love to sell more Rafales....
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Rafale is a fine bird. Problem is that the last time Canada fielded French kit.... was when parts of it were called French North America. Our supply lines and munitions are totally aligned with the US. It would be a big adjustment.
Munitions should be pretty compatible across all NATO nations at least.
France has always been the outlier on that front, and aircraft have always been the problem child logistics wise.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Most of France's current air delivered munitions and aircraft should be NATO compatible to one degree or another especially the newer craft and weapons.
Who watches the watchmen?
The big issue is that France doesn't have many contacts with Canadian companies/suppliers. Now, this could obviously change (and if France is willing to offset India and work with their budding industry, Dassault will play ball with Canada's requirements just fine) but it will take time. And I'm starting to wonder how long we have before the Hornets start falling out of the sky.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Rational: I am guessing the CF-18 is the Gen I Hornets. That is a serious problem. That particular craft line is no longer officially produced along with the spares. Time has been running out on the Gen I hornets for the past several years. The Super Hornet was long meant to be a new craft to replace it.
Who watches the watchmen?
I believe that the CF-18 has undergone (and is set to undergo further) substantial life extension work. But yes, they need replacement.
Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_CF-18_Hornet#Upgrades
But if losses (due to wear and tear, accidents, or gods forbid, real sustain combat) start to mount, the RCAF is in a bind.
edited 1st Jun '17 6:42:03 PM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
Re: 20th century Chinese military history
I think I've actually flipped through that same book before. From what I've read on the subject, it can be said that 20th century Chinese armies ranging from the Qing, the Nationalists, and finally the Communists all possessed the same critical organizational weakness of being effective at fighting battles but not winning ''wars". Case in point, the 1884 Sino-French War and the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War where the Qing and the Communists were able to achieve numerous tactical victories but failed to translate them into lasting strategic ones on a greater scale.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Most of those upgrades won't do a whole lot to keep them in the air with the increasing shortage of spares. The USMC is already fighting a spares shortage for similar craft. That and the airframes are wearing out after years of use.
Who watches the watchmen?
rollin' on dubs
And don't forget metal fatigue. Most media stories portray aircraft like they are solid blocks of metal (hence teh stoopid 9/11 truther stories). An aircraft is a frame with parts built around it.
And the frame takes a beating, much worse than a ground based vehicle because an aircraft had to move in 3D and high performance aircraft get the worst of it. The B-52's the airforce keeps flying? Rebuilt from the wheels up on a Cold War era budget. The A-10 is almost a solid block of metal, but at this point no new ones are made so replacement parts come from the ones in the boneyard.
The CF-18 is at the end of it's life, either Canada kisses up to Lockheed, kisses and makes up with Boeing or pray that Dassault or the Eurofighter team can come to their rescue.
All night at the computer, cuz people ain't that great. I keep to myself so I won't be on The First 48
Saab is an option. And I don't think that dealing with Lockheed or the Euros is that difficult, we buy big ticket things all the time.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Wasn't the RCAF big on twin-engine redundancy though?
"Yup. That tasted purple."
Saab's also particularly good at pitching in to help domestic industry. Though the Gripen is starting to get a bit long in the tooth, but I think they're working on a service life upgrade.
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
Gripen E is brand new I think. Not just a variant but a full upgrade.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
If they must have twin-engine capability, they can just buy two Vipers for every Hornet. 
Honestly, worst comes to worst, Canada might just have to step back on providing combat air support for NORAD and NATO until they can get the gap filled. Although losing that fast-mover capability might mean losing some expertise.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
It will go the same place the last time this was tried, nowhere. Too much weight for weapons and rounds and the 5.56mm just a got round that can easily defeat said cheap body armor at longer ranges than previously possible. Also the old green tip could defeat most of the el cheapo armors to begin with. So this is just blindly pissing in the dark as usual.
Who watches the watchmen?
A US Air Force vet was sentenced to 35 years in prison for attempting to join Daesh
.
In March 2016, a federal jury found Tairod Pugh, a former U.S Air Force mechanic from New Jersey, guilty of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and obstruction of justice. Among the dozens of U.S. citizens arrested for trying to either join ISIS or carry out a terrorist attack on its behalf, Pugh was the first to be handed down a verdict.
“This isn’t about whether you’re Muslim, Christian or Jewish,” U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis reportedly told Pugh, according to Newsday. “This is about whether you’re going to stand up for your country or betray your country which has done so much for you. . . . I have no sympathy.”
“The defendant turned his back on his country, and the military he once served, to attempt to join a brutally violent terrorist organization committed to the slaughter of innocent people throughout the world,” Acting United States Attorney Bridget Rohde said in a statement on May 31.