Derek 2.0

She did all that.......by deleting a spoiler status update? (I loved your post the though, it reminded me of Taxi Driver and Red Angel Dragnet.........hands up for Hollywood!!! Hooray)

I'm of course not talking about 1960, but today, with today's dollars (And yes, I do remember the old BC Tel rotary phones) And that proves my point even further..........In the later 1950s, the F-101 Voodoo was state of the art, but with the introduction of the F-4 Phantom in the early 60s, the Voodoo became near obsolete overnight......yet today, they are the rotary phones compared to the smartphone that is the F-35....and in 50 years, the F-35 will be just as obsolete with whatever comes next. Like consumer technology, military technology, since man first picked up a rock, has not stayed in stasis......and once you find a nice rock, the guy in the cave over will come up with one even bigger.....etc etc etc.

Which is directly correlated with capability.........How many rotary phones could one purchase with the same funds used to purchase the latest smartphone?

Ordered the center barrel upgrade for our Hornets.......buying time for the next Government, which they hoped would be them (evident by the rumors circulated by Andrew Coyne iirc, pertaining to a (then) planned initial purchase of the 4-6 F-35A early next year), none the less, putting the decision and ordering inside this present mandate, if not the one following..........at such time, the F-35A will be in full rate production, at which time, it was planned that we would then purchase.........

What are you talking about? I provided said link this morning, including both quotes from Alan William (as did the National Post article) and the MND's spokeswomen's release, speaking for the Minister well he was traveling....with regards the Liberals NSF payment to Lockheed: As to the Super Hornet sole source purchase: As to our legacy Hornets: So an already ordered upgrade.......as I said, we went into full detail circa 2014 in the then current F-35 thread....... What has left me wondering, with the Liberal's "reprofiling" of defense funds several months ago, did said "not a cut", cut funds to our Hornets center barrel upgrade.........in effect.........the Liberals are in a crisis of their own making?

Per the head of the RCAF........feel free to review the countless other F-35 threads, namely those in which we both discussed this very out of service date and the center barrel upgrade of our current Hornets.........you must be going senile, we went into great detail over the entire upgrade process, including costs and timelines. And thats still the case with the F-35..........thats not the case with the Super Hornet, as there are numerous aircraft that can perform at a similar level or better and in the case of the F-16, cheaper. I provided said source early this morning, quoting the article from the CBC.

Source? I know you're full of it, fore if you did actually know availability rates of the current Hornet fleet, and disclosed it, you'd be facing federal prison time........... None the less, as cited, why is the Trudeau government walking back the reports of a sole sourced Super Hornet purchase (if its such a good idea), likewise, why is the head of the RCAF not the least concerned with operating the fleet to 2025?

Where did I backtrack? I've been citing the mid 2030s for the fleets retirement, in countless threads, for years............the backtrack is you, that has suggested the fleet will operate into the 2040s.........the fleet will be beer cans in the 2040s

I did already.

It is tiresome, as there are currently more land based operators of Hornets and Super Hornets then those that use them from carriers......and the Hornet itself was derived from the YF-17, which lost to the F-16 in becoming one of the largest sellers of land based tactical aircraft.........surpassed of course by the F-4 Phantom, a carrier based aircraft for the USN, then adopted by countless air forces, including being the mainstay of the USAF into the early 1980s.........

I never gave any false impressions, said upgrade has been spoken to countless times in various F-35 threads for several years........the modernization would begin in the next several years, once the USN/USMC legacy fleet is completed its same upgrades.........2021 is the deadline to have selected a replacement and giving ~4 years to complete the transition. Sauce for the goose Waldo, you've decried the Harper Government's sole source planned purchase of the F-35 for years, using countless articles containing Alan Williams quotes. But all is moot, as the MND's spokeswomen has gone on record stating they have no intention of sole sourcing the Super Hornets......

Source? The head of the RCAF has said there is no problem operating the fleet out to 2025..........you know something he doesn't?

Some will, some won't, that's dependent on each airframe.....the USN is already sending Super Hornets obtained in the late 90s to the desert....so your suggesting that they will be still operating into the 2040s is unrealistic............even if Boeing is somehow magically able to double the Super Hornets life to ~12-13000 hours, aircraft that have entered service ~15 years (or newer) ago already at ~6600 hours, based on the same use, will only be fit for service into the early 2030s.......even cutting usage by 1/3rd, as the USN has done for the Super Hornet fleet, that maybe takes it to the mid 2030s. Aircraft used closer to the 2040s will clearly be recently obtained Growlers and the currently newest Super Hornets within the fleet, which but reflects a small fraction of the overall fleet..........hence your claim that they will be serving in USN service for the next 25+ years is outlandish and devoid of reality.

This Government has more than this mandate to fix it........inversely, the Harper Government ran a pseudo competition, obtaining comparative costs for alternatives, compared to the F-35. Why has this Government refused to release the findings? Surely if it found the way forward were the Super Hornet, the Liberals would have released it and used it as social license to justify a purchase.........yet it didn't.......could it be, like the recent Danish competition, it found that the full life costing of operating the Super Hornet was more than the F-35? Not strange to imagine, what with the largest user starting to retire their fleet in just over a decade, fostering a smaller user to go it alone with the costs of supply chains and upgrades.....to say nothing of the added costs associated with an aircraft with a lifespan of ~6600 hours (Super Hornet) versus that with an aircraft with a lifespan of ~9000 hours (F-35).

Ahh no....aircraft that have reached their end of life hours within ~15 years of service now, will not be operating for another ~25+ years, regardless of the life extension program........so unless the USN replaces their entire Super Hornet fleet with Super Hornets, no, they won't.

I know, and we won't until a replacement is selected.........ergo, there is no need to upgrade aircraft used to transition into our legacy hornets at such a time as we select new aircraft

A decision that is panned by Alan Williams, the former Liberal ADM Material minister (that procured items for DND), calling this move horrific, and aside opening the GoC to legal and trade actions by other aircraft builders and countries, is a bad deal for the military, a bad deal for Canadian industry and a bad deal for Canadian taxpayers......... Even the spokesperson for the MND has stated the Government isn't (now?) going to sole source the Super Hornet...........as such, its clear that smallc is talking out of his arse and defended something this government (isn't now?) going to do.

No they won't, as already cited numerous times to you, the majority of the fleet has already reached its designed end of airframe hours, forcing the USN to reduce Super Hornet flight hours by nearly 1/3rd, well speeding their next generation tanker, to further reduce the Super Hornet workload.......and working with Boeing to extend the aircraft's life. Unlike most aircraft, including the F-35, the Super Hornet was only engineered with ~2/3rds the lifespan as most other combat types, and is why the Danes rejected the Super Hornet over the F-35, citing additional costs of a life extension and larger attrition purchase.

And is quoted as saying they will still meet their financial commitment......per the spokesperson for the MND.

The St Louis plant will remain open, conducting the upgrades to the USN Super Hornet fleet....the production line for the Hornet and Eagle will be closed.

The reduction in numbers is due to no longer requiring the Hornet conversion squadron once we begin transitioning into a new aircraft.

Yes, I linked earlier to an article quoting him quite clearly.

No, other then the fact that the Super Hornet production will shut down soon..........regardless, per the MND's spokeswomen, the government has no intention (now?) to sole source Super Hornets......... I think, as I said earlier (and was mocked by the Trudeau cheerleaders), and is now being confirmed by former (Liberal) ADM of material (the guy that bought stuff for the military) Alan Williams: So we have reports of a sole source bid and Canada late paying its dues for the F-35 program.........this gets leaked and now the MND's spokesperson goes on record as stating there is no intention of sole sourcing Super Hornets and that Canada will continue to pay towards the F-35 program..... Can anyone say trial balloon........that went over like a Led Zeppelin, for the Trudeau populace party

You know something the head of the RCAF doesn't? He has stated quite clearly, we have no need to even select a replacement until ~2021, and the end of our current hornets useful will be 2025. So yes, I think everything will be fine, assuming an aircraft is selected then procured prior to 2021........per the statement by the head of the RCAF.

I've never experienced it firsthand, quite the opposite usually, but this is a first......and it doesn't make mad, more disappointed. None the less, everyone is entitled to off days...