CANADIAN AIR FORCE NEEDS COMPETITION ON NEXT GENERATION FIGHTER NEXT YEAR AT THE LATEST

So no-one is talking sole-source this time ? Thats strange......

There is a possibility of a good deal on Eurofighters as the British are experiencing trouble paying for new Tranche 3 Eurofighters, and are looking for opportunities to defer delivery of new Eurofighters.

I agree with Jimmy.  The Grippen is the better choice. It was designed to be refueled and rearmed out of the back of a truck.  It was also designed to land on public roads.  The Grippen is Nato capbatible.  We could deploy it to the North or other parts of Canada or the world with minimal infrastructure.  All the other choices seem to be over priced for the amount of flying hours we would get out of them.  

The so-called stealth technology need much too much time to maintain and repair. The F-22 have also some internal and external corrosion but also a glitch inside the 1980s computer. In fact the combat computer was designed 1980s and IBM don't create brand new computers and pieces. The F-22 is a garbage at 200 million dollars unit designed during the cold war. The F-35 is the same thing but the problem is the price tag per unit and the quality of the fighter against 4th generation or 4.5th generation. The F-35 is a modern fighter but with a doctrine from cold war and the F-35 is vulnerable against Russian S-400 and S-500 (modernized variants of the S-300).  The Grippen NG is the best choice between quality and quality but also price per unit. The Eurofighter batch two is also a good alternative but the price per unit is overprices , similar to a brand new F-35.

Certain other allies are pushing for an F-22X model, for export - were we to join that chorus I suspect some allies could be found in Congress to support an extended production line.

That being said, the endless desire of the Air Force for the latest and greatest all tricked out fighter jets is not supportable or sustainable; a country our size needs more transport and SAR aircraft first.

What commonalities do the F 18 Hornet and Super Hornet have? Would purchasing the Super hornet do anything to assist life-extension of the existing F 18 fleet or are the F 18s all too fatigued to spend $ on?

Boeing is pushing SH sales with a $50 mil flat rate to attempt to stop the JSF from commanding the market but both aircraft are yesterday's plane. The JSF advertises itself as a fifth gen fighter but its only a third gen platform with some fifth gen bells and whistles. It may be cost effective but buying old platforms like F 15 and F 18 with advancements may not be in our best interests when the technology of the future is considered.

From my perspective, Canada should be purchasing fifth gen technology and paying the costs associated with such a bold move rather than spending a lot of money on yesterday's platforms. This doesn't necessarily mean JSF, but perhaps stretching the Hornets out a little longer to receive the best technology available to make this expensive purchase relevant well into the 21st century.

I whole heartedly agree with ACpilot, the number of aircrafy purchased needs to be at least 100 due to the size of the country, mx and the inevitable losses, in fact a 1 to 1 replacement based on the original F-18 purchase number of 138 is what should be looked at. And the idea of a fly off makes perfect sense as Boeing is also offering an improved version of the F-15 along with F-18 Super Hornet.

Glen,

I agree. An open competition is the best way to go. All of the proposed candidates have many advantages and disadvantages to them that would warrant close examination.

The JSF is significantly behind in flight testing.  The way things are progressing with that program, it would be highly optimistic to think they would be able to participate in a competition next year.  It also looks to be getting more expensive by the day.

The Super Hornet's underlying design is a bit long in the tooth for an aircraft that Canada would be fielding for 25+ years.   That doesn't seem to be stopping the USN from buying it though.  The Eurofighter is intriguing as a fighter but I understand it is lacking on the ground attack side of things.  Don't know much about the Rafale.  

An open competition is clearly the way to go, lets see what the best fit is for Canada.

Competition can only have positive results for both the Air Force and the Department of Finance.  However, with only 65 examples to be purchased, Canada has sunk to Banana Republic status in my opinion.