Canada's F18 replacement news & updates | Page 7 | World Defense

Canada's F18 replacement news & updates

GRANNY001

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It's a very interesting project btw, I always wonder if it was in service operation how it will perform compared to fighters like F-15A.
If it were equipped with some modern technology, It would still blow the F-15 out of the water!! The Americans were so in awe of this plane that it bribed Canada to scrap the program in favour of American Bomarc Nuclear tipped Missiles stationed in northern Canada. Some are still calling for a renewed Arrow to be built here in Canada to replace the Hornets. The plans are still there, Pieces of the A/C are still available (if not the whole plane). It was driven by twin Canadian built Iroquois engines, and would still be a marvel today! Ah, what a dream!!


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Nightfox

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The Canadians didn't really have a choice but to tow the American line for their own safety against the USSR and for keeping NORAD running.
 

Khafee

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The Canadians didn't really have a choice but to tow the American line for their own safety against the USSR and for keeping NORAD running.
Not really. What were the americans going to say, since you bought a/c from indigenous / foreign sources, you are out of NORAD ? We wont talk to you anymore? Not likely.
 

Nightfox

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Not really. What were the americans going to say, since you bought a/c from indigenous / foreign sources, you are out of NORAD ? We wont talk to you anymore? Not likely.
They are well known for the ego and for listening to the defence sector when making political/defence desicions so its not unlikely.Just look at the fight between Boeing and the late Bombardier when the latter tried to sell Canadian jets to US airlines.Even the fedral govt. jumped in the fight.
 

Khafee

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They are well known for the ego and for listening to the defence sector when making political/defence desicions so its not unlikely.Just look at the fight between Boeing and the late Bombardier when the latter tried to sell Canadian jets to US airlines.Even the fedral govt. jumped in the fight.
Apples and Oranges
 

Tunamelt

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when I was studying each of the other air force guys Avro this and Avro that-----besides I know the reality of being a fighter pilot in RCAF not enough experienced guys and not enough planes there is like a 8 year delay of some sorts, When I found out about thins I was shocked most of the new guys wanted fast jets but we all knew SAR and Transport was destined.
 

space cadet

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forget the phony claims in the video above, although they are funny..

55 years later, biggest question surrounding Avro Arrow remains “what if?”
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Fifty-five years ago today, on March 25, 1958, the infamous Avro Arrow made its very first test flight.


The plane was the crown jewel of Canadian aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe Canada, better known as Avro, then the third-largest company in Canada. The hypersonic fighter was on the cutting edge of aerospace technology at the time: it could reach a speed nearly three times the speed of sound, travelling at an altitude of 60,000 feet.

The first flight of the Arrow should have been a crowning moment for the Canadian aerospace industry. Yet the plane was scrapped by the federal government just a few months later, in a decision that remains controversial to this day.

For many Canadians, the Avro Arrow has come to symbolize both the potential, and the unfulfilled promise, of Canadian innovation.

“The Arrow represents a period when Canada stood up on its own and did its own thing,” Paul Squires, a historian with the Canadian Aeronautical Preservation Association, told Global News. “In many ways, it’s become a symbol of the country.”

“At the time, we were in the top three of the largest producers of aeronautical parts in the world. But the cancellation of the Arrow absolutely devastated the Canadian aerospace industry.”

When it comes to the Avro Arrow, the true regret is what might have been: Flying saucers. Hover cars. A Lunar rover – and even the possibility of a Canadian using it.

The fall of the Avro Arrow

So why was the Avro Arrow cancelled by the Canadian government in 1959?

“The official reason given by the Diefenbaker government [at that time] was that the Arrow was too expensive, and it was no longer worth the money,” Cohen said. “Avro as a company was going through millions of taxpayer dollars.”
“The government had an agenda to destroy it. They wanted the money for other things, so they came up with all kinds of reasons why they didn’t need it,” Squires said.

The reasons for the cancellation of the Arrow were a mix of politics, timing, and bad luck. The CF-105 (as the Arrow was officially known) was originally designed as a long-range interceptor, meant to meet and destroy Soviet bombers.

But on October 4, 1957 – the same day as the first Avro Arrow rolled off the production line – the Soviets launched the satellite Sputnik, becoming the first nation to put a man-made object into orbit.

And just like that, everything changed.

“It really was a case of the worst timing,” Squires said. “The same day as Avro rolls out their aircraft, you had millions of people around the world looking up at the stars, trying to look for Sputnik.”

That development changed the focus for militaries on both sides of the Cold War, away from conventional bombers and towards atmospheric weapons like intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Then there was the often-contentious relationship between conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, and Avro Canada president Crawford Gordon, Jr.

“Diefenbaker didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, he was a complete teetotaler,” Squires said. “And in walks Crawford Gordon with his hip flask, a cigarette in his hand, pounding on Diefenbaker’s desk. They were complete polar opposites.”

There was also the changing politics surrounding the creation of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. One of the specifics of this deal was the purchase by the U.S. Air Force of the new Avro Arrow fighter.

“When we were negotiating NORAD under the St. Laurent government, the U.S. would send a note, and the government would haggle over specifics and send one back,” Squires explained. “Well Mr. St. Laurent lost [the 1957 election], Mr. Diefenbaker came in, and the newest U.S. paper now says they no longer wish to purchase the Arrow.”

“Diefenbaker just looked at it, said ‘looks good’ and signed it. Even Americans were shocked, because they expected some pushback.”

The cancellation of the CF-105 Arrow was a deathblow for Avro. It was also a serious setback for the Canadian aerospace industry as a whole.

“Fifteen thousand people lost their jobs at Avro [as a result of the Arrow’s cancellation], but many more people outside of the company lost their jobs too,” Cohen said. “People in the supply chain, parts manufacturers, the support network. Within six months, thousands more were out of work.”
 
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