Because they aren’t just going out and buying a new car.
A military changing aircraft means rewriting pilot and maintenance personnel training programs, then retraining everyone, changing logistics chains for a completely different set of spare parts, rewriting tactical plans to match the new aircraft’s capabilities & limitations, changing ordnance availability based on what the new platform can carry… changing the aircraft means thousands of follow-on decisions and costs for all of the support structure and military operations built around the aircraft.
Can Sweden supply the number of aircraft that Canada needs? How many, and over how many years? what about spare parts - can Canada manufacture some within its borders, or purchase them from third-party suppliers, or will it be completely dependent on Sweden to supply them? what guarantees can be given about access to those parts? How quickly can pilots be retrained? Can the same type of missiles be mounted on the Gripen, or will the Canadian military have to select different weapons systems, purchase them, and retrain personnel to use and handle them? are the communication, radar and electronic warfare capabilities on these aircraft comparable? can the Gripen perform all of the same mission types as the F-35, or will other aircraft have to provide capabilities and either support, participate in or take over certain mission types? will it fit in current Canadian hangars, or will new facilities have to be built? can it take off and land on the same airstrips as the F-35, or will some have to be modified, or will it simply not be deployable from all of the same locations?
Finally, is the time, effort, internal chaos, and financial cost of changing aircraft worth it? It will take more than 3 years to accomplish these changes. Is waiting for the US administration to change a lower risk/lower cost option?
A military changing aircraft means rewriting pilot and maintenance personnel training programs
All the reason to stop considering F35 alternatives, and cancel F35 immidiately. Sell any to KSA or North Korea for all I care.
The only military mission Canada will ever NEED to do in near future is defense/attack against US forces. That can’t be done with F35s that need Lockheed Martin permission for avionic systems. Pretending our military’s only mission will remain to hammer “rules based world order” nails is what needs to stop immediately.
The other issue is what a shit plane the F35 is. If ever there is a legitimate reason to amplify US dictate again, it can be done with other planes than F35. The point that this was always a colonial tribute paying for a boondoggle was always unacceptable. Same people can learn to fly and maintain other fighters.
The more likely disastrous scenario is Russia repeatedly “tests” Canada’s borders, and Trump or an equally idiot successor decides this is an opportunity to re-negociate trade agreements while the mission planning server in the US suffers from an inexplicable temporary outage.
As for training, Ukraine proves every day a jet’s pilots, mechs, etc. can definitely be re-trained and operate in a high intensity war.
This year, the next development phase (Block4) promised capabilities were trimmed down and new delays were announced. Meanwhile, the last refresh had so much troubles that Lockheed delivered non-combat capable jets for some time (are they meeting all their promises even now??).
So I don’t know if the Gripen is as capable as what the F35 is supposed to be for Canada’s needs, but at least it’s an existing product, tested in real combat, from a reliable maker.
Saab already offered to have them assembled in Canada, and that production site would also build Ukraine’s order.
The F35 is a work in progress and a lot of its awesomeness exists on Powerpoint only. And even if it gets there one day, no one can tell how long you’ll wait, how much it will cost, and not even if it will be relevant by the time, as its furtivity advantage, for example, could be nullified by new radars capabilities.
So on one hand, an expensive solution, that’s true, but you know what you get. On the other, a complete unknown on costs, delays and gap between promised and actual capabilities.
More food for thoughts: when Greece ordered some F35 in addition to its Rafale and F16 fleet, no one in the US admin thought a mixed fleet was too expensive for a country like Greece.
So I will let Canada’s deciders take their time on that one…
Because they aren’t just going out and buying a new car.
A military changing aircraft means rewriting pilot and maintenance personnel training programs, then retraining everyone, changing logistics chains for a completely different set of spare parts, rewriting tactical plans to match the new aircraft’s capabilities & limitations, changing ordnance availability based on what the new platform can carry… changing the aircraft means thousands of follow-on decisions and costs for all of the support structure and military operations built around the aircraft.
Can Sweden supply the number of aircraft that Canada needs? How many, and over how many years? what about spare parts - can Canada manufacture some within its borders, or purchase them from third-party suppliers, or will it be completely dependent on Sweden to supply them? what guarantees can be given about access to those parts? How quickly can pilots be retrained? Can the same type of missiles be mounted on the Gripen, or will the Canadian military have to select different weapons systems, purchase them, and retrain personnel to use and handle them? are the communication, radar and electronic warfare capabilities on these aircraft comparable? can the Gripen perform all of the same mission types as the F-35, or will other aircraft have to provide capabilities and either support, participate in or take over certain mission types? will it fit in current Canadian hangars, or will new facilities have to be built? can it take off and land on the same airstrips as the F-35, or will some have to be modified, or will it simply not be deployable from all of the same locations?
Finally, is the time, effort, internal chaos, and financial cost of changing aircraft worth it? It will take more than 3 years to accomplish these changes. Is waiting for the US administration to change a lower risk/lower cost option?
They will be built in Canada. Canada already builds large numbers of aircraft for Sweden.
Don’t buy from the enemy and fund them.
All the reason to stop considering F35 alternatives, and cancel F35 immidiately. Sell any to KSA or North Korea for all I care.
The only military mission Canada will ever NEED to do in near future is defense/attack against US forces. That can’t be done with F35s that need Lockheed Martin permission for avionic systems. Pretending our military’s only mission will remain to hammer “rules based world order” nails is what needs to stop immediately.
The other issue is what a shit plane the F35 is. If ever there is a legitimate reason to amplify US dictate again, it can be done with other planes than F35. The point that this was always a colonial tribute paying for a boondoggle was always unacceptable. Same people can learn to fly and maintain other fighters.
The more likely disastrous scenario is Russia repeatedly “tests” Canada’s borders, and Trump or an equally idiot successor decides this is an opportunity to re-negociate trade agreements while the mission planning server in the US suffers from an inexplicable temporary outage.
As for training, Ukraine proves every day a jet’s pilots, mechs, etc. can definitely be re-trained and operate in a high intensity war.
This year, the next development phase (Block4) promised capabilities were trimmed down and new delays were announced. Meanwhile, the last refresh had so much troubles that Lockheed delivered non-combat capable jets for some time (are they meeting all their promises even now??).
So I don’t know if the Gripen is as capable as what the F35 is supposed to be for Canada’s needs, but at least it’s an existing product, tested in real combat, from a reliable maker.
Saab already offered to have them assembled in Canada, and that production site would also build Ukraine’s order.
The F35 is a work in progress and a lot of its awesomeness exists on Powerpoint only. And even if it gets there one day, no one can tell how long you’ll wait, how much it will cost, and not even if it will be relevant by the time, as its furtivity advantage, for example, could be nullified by new radars capabilities.
So on one hand, an expensive solution, that’s true, but you know what you get. On the other, a complete unknown on costs, delays and gap between promised and actual capabilities.
More food for thoughts: when Greece ordered some F35 in addition to its Rafale and F16 fleet, no one in the US admin thought a mixed fleet was too expensive for a country like Greece.
So I will let Canada’s deciders take their time on that one…