r/canadia • u/noshparty • 5d ago

Lockheed-Martin reps pushing F-35 procurement for Canada

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Just in case anyone wanders into someone with a generic name who knows a little too much about the subject matter and shows a strange, aggressive interest in Canada procuring F-35s, just know people like this are lingering around.

He deleted his account minutes after posting this, but just know they're here pushing their agenda, as if you didn't already know.

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u/ironbrewcanada 3d ago

I'll give you a counterpoint. Ukranian F16's are being grounded because they are getting too many hours chasing drones. The maintenance is done out of country and incredibly slowly. The F35 is far more expensive than an F16. If we have to use F35's to chase drones, we will both wear out the aircraft and use up expensive missiles etc. instead of cheaper alternatives, and have too many grounded waiting for parts we are legally not allowed to own or install. I think given the lessons of Ukraine, we need to have a dual fleet. One for the "complex" stuff, and something much faster and cheaper to fly and maintain for chasing drones etc.

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u/Tourist_Careless 3d ago

Lessons from ukraine are often overextrapolated. Ukraine is under conditions other western nations are not.

If Ukraine had F35s they wouldnt be chasing drones, because they wouldnt need to. They would be flying stealthed behind enemy lines undetected and eliminating anything that moves. The supply lines and bases, forwards outposts from whoch to launch drones, and even factories that make drones would be destroyed.

The war in ukraine wouldnt be ww1 tench warfare with drones and a static frontline. This is exactly why things lile the f35 are a big deal and people trying to paint them as dated and irrelevant is not the amazing take they think it is.

Ukraine is not the US, Canada, or Europe. The wars will be fought under different conditions. Remember that drones only emerged as the primary munition once artillery, anti tank launchers, and trenches bogged it down. Nobody was talking about drones for the first two years of the war. Only once it became a static snipe fest. And it only became that way because neither ukraine (or, surprisingly russia due to corruption) had air dominance or anything resembling an f35.

Cheaper to fly doesnt really apply for a mixed fleet unless you are dealing with huge numbers at scale, and Canada isnt. The extra costs of having two logictical and training pipelines wpuld more than offset the "savings" for a small airforce.