John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Liberals faced closed-door criticism over now-cancelled Super Hornet fighter plan”
The Liberals were right about avoiding the F-35.
It not only is incredibly expensive to buy - its total price still rising - and incredibly expensive to operate. It is estimated to cost $40,000 for a single hour of flight.
It has many problems yet, and its stealth feature has already been shown to be considerably less effective than claimed.
But on top of those horrors, the F-35 is not a suitable configuration for Canada's needs.
We are not, and I hope will never be, in the bombing business.
And its single engine definitely makes it less suitable for Northern flight.
Why have some military and political figures advocated for it then?
None of these people is immune to the beckoning of buying the latest, fanciest, most costly machine.
And Washington has gone all out to push the F-35 on its allies. It pushes hard because the plane is so wastefully expensive, the Pentagon needs a subsidy from its allies. The US does this increasingly with weapons systems, but the F-35 has been the most egregious example.
The enhanced Hornet, or still another plane, far better suits Canada's needs.
