Canada has been looking for a new Fighter Jet aircraft for the past 10 years or so and had been fixated on the F-35 which was promoted as being the best of its class in speed and its radar invisibility. (they call this “stealth” technology).
And the life time price of the total purchase has risen dramatically from less that $10 Billion to at least #30 Billion (and some are saying possibly $50 Billion). And this was not even going to be allowed to be discussed by the citizens.
Many people have issues with the total cost which is huge. Can you imagine a singe fighter worth about $250 million (that is $15Billion purchase price divided by 65 planes). Here I am estimating the purchase price as being 1/2 of total lifetime cost of $30 Billion.
Times have changed in the last 20 – 30 years. Technology has changed dramatically. The developers of fighter aircraft are using all the new technology to make the aircraft faster and more deadly in their purpose. The avionic systems are state of the art and are VERY expensive.
I suggest that, in today’s new world of technology, that the very idea of a fighter jet may be out of date. The idea of one or two airmen in a super fast aircraft (or missile) whose purpose is to intercept other super fast aircraft or to bomb or strafe enemy in bunkers (foxholes anyone) , is obsolete in the extreme. The developers are just dressing up an old idea.
Today the cutting edge is remote control and autonomous and small and cheap. Drones are the latest item now. Most drones are controlled by some desk warrior 1000 s of miles away who goes home to his family after a days work. New drones will be tricked out with AI (artificial intelligence) and very high resolution cameras. These drones will be given the task of finding Mr. Smith and following further instructions like: report location or kill. Oh, these drones will not be missiles or even slow moving aircraft but may even be 10 kilogram silent helicopter types that may even look like a soaring eagle. In 5 years from now the latest will be a drone that looks like a humming bird, act like a humming bird but will be able to fly to a person and kill that person. Can you imagine Mr Smith lounging around in Belize with his friends and all of a sudden there is a swarm of humming birds that descends on them and they are all killed. This will be possible soon if not already.
The future of the military is going to include thousands of small, cheap, aerial, unmanned craft that will do all of the snooping and various levels of combat. If the drone is shot down or captured then the loss is minor. It will be just like the loss of 1 bee from a hive of many.
Another technological advance that will determine the end of the fighter jet is the cheap, fast missiles that will take out any fighter they are told to “take out”. If a fighter can fly at 2 or 3 times the speed of sound then a missile can do the same. If a superbly trained pilot can weave and dodge in a “dog fight” then so can a missile. A single pilot will be no match to 5 or 10 missiles. And 1000 missiles will cost as much as a single aircraft. And there was another new item of a Gatling type gun that can shoot many 1000 s of explosive shells per second. Think of an aircraft flying into that.
So, I am suggesting that the Canadian military invest in the new technology not including anything like the F-35, and beef up the other areas of aircraft that would be used in disaster relief and other non-war related activities.
And beside, if we get into a war with the US or CHINA or even RUSSIA then our little contribution will amount to “sweet bugger all” and we all might as well just surrender.
The goal of the Canadian government should primarily be that of peace. There are going to be too many problems in the future related to global warming, loss of fish species, loss of coastal farm land, displaced populations, hunger. We should be preparing for these and not buying quarter billion dollar aircraft that will not survive their 1st mission.
HOT OFF THE PRESS – 2012-12=27
Here is an item that shows where the technology is going. A quad-rotor copter with a machine gun and controlled with a video link. It is quite crude but shows the concept. And this was not created by a $100 million USD project but I suspect with a budget of only $10,000 to $50,000.
Take a look at this Quad Rotor DRONE with Machine Gun
And this Bug-Sized Lethal Drones
