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Canada's air force was slashed in size by 50% yesterday

alphatarget1 said:
Yeah, right.... Without the US military you Canucks would be spending a hell of a lot more to protect yourselves against the Russians.
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This is possibly true. I believe Russia invades Canada's air space constantly and then is "escorted" back by a fighter or two. And, all jokes aside, a fighter or two is a pretty substantial percentage of Canada's air force which is basically an air force in name only. It has very few actual combat-ready fighters.
 
Skoorb said:
This is possibly true. I believe Russia invades Canada's air space constantly and then is "escorted" back by a fighter or two. And, all jokes aside, a fighter or two is a pretty substantial percentage of Canada's air force which is basically an air force in name only. It has very few actual combat-ready fighters.
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hehe.

Not to derail the thread, but I don't understand why Obama is trying to cozy up with the Russians. Nobody likes them. Ask any of our allies in the former Warsaw pact countries, they all hate the Russians because they were essentially fucked by Russia for centuries. Same for Canada. Russia wants to take the entire Arctic. Are Canadians ready to defend their national interests from Russian aggression?

EDIT: TO keep this thread on topic... I'm glad the pilot is okay.
 
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Canada better be careful with their existing fighter(s). The F35 is not anywhere near production yet.
 
alphatarget1 said:
hehe.

Not to derail the thread, but I don't understand why Obama is trying to cozy up with the Russians. Nobody likes them. Ask any of our allies in the former Warsaw pact countries, they all hate the Russians because they were essentially fucked by Russia for centuries. Same for Canada. Russia wants to take the entire Arctic. Are Canadians ready to defend their national interests from Russian aggression?

EDIT: TO keep this thread on topic... I'm glad the pilot is okay.
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glad the pilot is ok.

I wouldn't trust Russia at all. they want to take over all over the artic. I think that's where the next big conflict area.
 
Obviously not many people in here have any idea of the size of our Air Force. Here some information about our fighters.

From Wiki
"In 1980, the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet was declared the winner of the New Fighter Aircraft competition. The order included 98 single-seat variants and 40 dual-seat variants, for a total of 138 purchased, plus 20 options (which were not exercised)."

Cost per fighters was $35 millions originaly.

"Current strength: 72 CF-18As and 31 CF-18Bs in inventory as of November 2008.[35] 80 in operational use."

We have ordered 65 new F35 fighters at a cost of about 120 millions each and they should enter service around 2017. The Liberals have vowed to stop the project if they get elected.
 
Number1 said:
Obviously not many people in here have any idea of the size of our Air Force. Here some information about our fighters.

From Wiki
"In 1980, the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet was declared the winner of the New Fighter Aircraft competition. The order included 98 single-seat variants and 40 dual-seat variants, for a total of 138 purchased, plus 20 options (which were not exercised)."

Cost per fighters was $35 millions originaly.

"Current strength: 72 CF-18As and 31 CF-18Bs in inventory as of November 2008.[35] 80 in operational use."

We have ordered 65 new F35 fighters at a cost of about 120 millions each and they should enter service around 2017. The Liberals have vowed to stop the project if they get elected.
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And 2 F22s can shoot down the whole air force 😛

(disclaimer: as long as canadians dont have rain or cell phones)
 
Skoorb said:
This is possibly true. I believe Russia invades Canada's air space constantly and then is "escorted" back by a fighter or two. And, all jokes aside, a fighter or two is a pretty substantial percentage of Canada's air force which is basically an air force in name only. It has very few actual combat-ready fighters.
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Not in a while. The U.S.S.R. used to routinely send nuclear-capable bombers over the Arctic circle to test NORAD's reflexes but they haven't been a credible threat in some time.

Deudalus said:
Canada has an air force?
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We do too, sort of! Though the funny thing is we really are going to cut its size in half in the next ten years - we'll go from 130-odd F/A-18 Hornets to about 60 F-35s.

I still think we should sell off all of our heavy land-based equipment and turn into a 100% paratrooper force with a stated mission of going in fast and first. I think the U.S. was getting somewhere with their light (enough to be dropped by chute) tank technology, and it's only a quick reaction force that'd be any good for the defence of Canada.

Edit: Just saw the video, ouch. Bet that wasn't a soft landing for the pilot.
 
Conspiracy theory. The canadian government just announces purchase of new advanced fighter planes. All signs point to a political battle over the contract. 1 week later an existing plane crashes. The crash offers political points to the government which of course supports the contract. Who could be against the new planeswhen the existing ones fall from the sky and put the brave pilots in danger?
 
Kntx said:
Conspiracy theory. The canadian government just announces purchase of new advanced fighter planes. All signs point to a political battle over the contract. 1 week later an existing plane crashes. The crash offers political points to the government which of course supports the contract. Who could be against the new planeswhen the existing ones fall from the sky and put the brave pilots in danger?
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Yeah, the Official Opposition is playing the same old game that put the screws to the military two decades ago:

Mr. Ignatieff no doubt recalls that his predecessor Jean Chrétien made much political hay during the 1993 election by characterizing the Mulroney government's $4.8-billion contract for EH-101 helicopters as a “Cadillac” deal.

While this may have been a winning election strategy, the subsequent cancellation of this deal cost Canadian taxpayers $500-million in penalties and delayed a very necessary purchase. Seventeen years later, we're still waiting for those replacement helicopters.
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First said:
It's high time we absorbed this damn country already, lol.
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Hey, that's not nice. I thought we were friends?🙁

I think Harper is actually doing well in terms of the military. He has been purchasing a lot of new and better equipment, and that must be a huge morale boost.
 
SickBeast said:
I'm glad our government spends money on healthcare rather than the military. IMO the US should do the same.
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No, the US doesn't need to spend more money on anything (except maybe education, but that's at the state level). They do, however, need to spend less money on almost everything, including the military.
 
yllus said:
...
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I don't quite see the 1993 helicopter debacle the same as the situation today with the planes. The helicopter cuts were part of a larger austerity strategy put forth by the liberals to bring the deficit under control. Also, I believe (could be wrong) that the helicopter purchase was much further along in the procurement process at that time than the plane purchase of today. In fact the point put forth by the opposition is not that the military doesn't need or won't get new planes, the issue is that there was no competitive bid process at all.
 
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