John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO THE CBC NEWS
“DND [CANADA'S DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENCE] staff warned to keep mum while attending air shows during fighter jet competition
“DND staff, military members also restricted from talking to media about competition”
Buy anything, but not the F-35.
It does not suit Canada's needs, but of course it is pushed very hard by the Pentagon and the White House.
It's more of a fighter-bomber than the kind of fighter-interceptor we need.
At least I hope no one's planning to join in America's favorite pastime of bombing people all over the planet.
It is designed to be so multi-functional that it does no one thing superbly well.
The chief designer of the successful F-16 called the F-35 a badly designed plane.
It has a single engine, which for a cold climate like Canada's is less desirable.
It costs a fortune and they still haven't ironed out all the many bugs. Those very high costs are why Washington so pushes the plane on its poor allies. It is a way to subsidize it.
An American Senator concerned with defense matters just wrote the Secretary of Defense about the Pentagon’s not even knowing the value of the plane and about it literally "hemorrhaging" money.
The maintenance costs are astounding.
The Pentagon says each hour in the air costs $30 thousand in maintenance!
It's the nature of the anti-radar coatings which need constant attention.
Poor Norway is trying to figure out in a big study what they are actually paying for the plane. They do not know. It's that bad.
Last, the anti-radar, a feature so many other things have been sacrificed for, can be gotten around. Both the Russians and the Chinese are aware of this.
