Let's hope the F-35 doesn't end up being the most expensive boondoggle in aviation history. So far more money has been spend on it than on the American space program since day 1, and there are still none in operation.

Canada has announced buying 65, I think, for a $9 billion price tag... not counting spare parts and other suplementary costs. A US defense analyst says that the amount is amost certainly only half what they will really cost. The opposition parties in Canada, who are hoping to replace the Conservative Party in the election next month, have said they will either cancel the order or put it under review. Meanwhile, the UK seems to be having its doubts too. The US could end up footing the entire cost of the production run. It would be apalling if the F-35 ended up costing as much as the F-22, when the Raptor is the superior plane all around. (Other than the limited usefulnes of VTOL capacity the Marines want. But the Marines want everything... with icing.)

"...the Marines want everything... with icing."
-snerks-

I say we get them. Perhaps 65 is quite a few but we are getting a deal. Hell we could give them to the navy and build a few small carriers. I personally would rather see some more modern twin engine types taken in for arctic patrol since the engines have a habit of dying in that weather,mostly for safety purposes. As much as I love our CF-18s their just getting too old, I would keep them around for a time but not rely on them so heavily.

And I agree the F-22 is an over expensive monstrosity. I would rather a PAK-FA any day.

The F-35 is unforunately a single engined aircraft, so right there it ought to have been ruled out.

The Typhoon II would have been a good choice, as would have been the F-18 F/A Superhornet. Hell, maybe even the Su 47 would have been fine. We don't have to beat the Americans, after all... All we've ever done with the F-18 is drop bombs on guys with rifles. How sooper-dooper does it have to be?

I am aware. the F-35 is more suited to regional protection of the provinces. This would free up all the CF-18s for exclusive northern duty. The F-35 is a step in the right direction. I however would advocate buying a 30-40 su-25s for ground attack. The aircraft may be old but its cheap and out preforms its western rival. Perhaps even we could go and start building our own again.

Then again, since about the only use we put these machines to is loaning them to the US or Nato for *their* wars, maybe we should consider just buying a lot of cheap bush planes to survey the north, and save a bundle of money.