Oh for fuck sake ! Cancel them !
I am sure the Saab jets would end up costing something stupid like that; but that is because they would be made here and employing more Canadians, who would make the parts.
And can be maintained here, unlike the F-35.
It is my understanding that they can be maintained here it is just a bunch of BS about Canada not owning the parts until they are installed into the CF-35s. The C is added once they become part of the Canadian military.
After some small amount of flight hours, like less than a day, they have to be all fixed up as I am sure the Saab jets would need to be but the parts would not be made here and the Canadian Air Force would not own the parts until they were installed.
I have been in the hangers with all the CF 16’s at the base in Cold Lake, I have touched a 5 minute ready jet. I was a young little person this has got to be coming up on 30 years ago but I cannot imagine the worker bees who looked after those jets being happy that they would need to replace parts on the jets they would not even be sure they could use after say a training run.
I live in Saskatoon and know when the CF 16’s do there training here every so often. They have to fly into the airport, and I am guessing quickly fill up with jet fuel and take off again, I have never thought of the maintenance they would need to go under after those flights but it makes sense that the jet mechanics would need to keep their skills sharp as well. Sure they do stuff when they are away at whatever base when the shipped off but they also need to do the work here to.
No such thing as a CF-16…
Once the jet becomes part of the Canadian Air Force it gains the C
Are you are it wasn’t the CF-18?
Searching for CF-16 didn’t get me anything but there is a CF-18, been around since the 80s
I was listening or reading something today, probably, saying that the Canadian military can stock pile parts because they will need so much work done after however flight hours but the military would not actually own the parts until they were installed in the jets. So there could be a part stock piled up here and the US could decide they need it and bam order it to come back even though our jets will need it.
I know I am just an arm chair general but the Saab jets are looking like a better choice than the CF35’s. Sure pilots will need to be trained on a completely new system rather than an updated old system, but the military has not even started the training on the CF35’s
The F-35 requires maintenance to be done in the US.
They would need to go down there way too frequently. The pilots do training exercises all over Canada to keep their skills sharp and airports ready, I know there was rumours that they would need to go down south to get maintenance but that just does not make sense with how the Air Force operates and the maintenance schedule the jets require.
Don’t forget all the downtime for constantly needed repairs and maintenance, and the obscenely high costs of spare parts.
