- Newflash: Canadians Hawk Our Shirts While Military Hawks our Country

Posted: 11:59 AM on January 23, 2011
Multibillion-dollar jets buy ‘best value for Canada,’ top soldier says, COLIN FREEZE, Globe and Mail, Jan. 22, 2011
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/multibillion-dollar-jets-buy-best-value-for-canada-top-soldier-says/article1879548/comments/

Winslow Wheeler, Center For Defense Information in Washington, D.C., testimony at the Standing Committee on National Defence:

The final unit cost to Canada to purchase: "I can guarantee to you . . . will be well in excess of $70 million . . .

I do not believe it unreasonable to expect a multiplication factor of two."

Cost of Operating the aircraft: " . . . It would not be unreasonable to expect the flying hour costs to double."

Performance:

". . . not a single U.S. stealth aircraft had lived up to its original detectability promises, and the F-35
looks to be no exception."

The F35's weight and smallish wings give sit the maneuverability "roughly equivalent to an American
F-105 fighter-bomber of the Vietnam era".

(Toronto Sun, 23 Jan.'11)

"We are getting the best aircraft at the best price" - I guess what Peter MacKay is saying simply can't stand up to rational analysis or even a minimal, somewhat probing examination.

Shouldn't our military leaders be informed of this. Perhaps they will change their minds about spending so much of Canadian tax payers' money.

Lt.-Gen. Andre Deschamps told the Standing Committee, 28 Oct.'10

"The F-35 Lightning II is not an unnecessary luxury. It is the right tool, at the best value, to properly do the job that Canada and Canadians want their Air Force to carry out on their behalf."
and,
"You're implying that we don't know what we're doing,"

"Gen. Natynczyk, the Chief of Defence Staff, argued that the state-of-the-art jet fighters are the best deal on the market,"

How is it everyone else seems to know.

Someone better tell Deschamps and Natynczyk before we have to hawk our shirts.

Lloyd MacILquham cicblog.com/comments.html