http://www.thestarphoenix.com/MacPherson+Only+best+fighter+good+enough+RCAF/9924331/story.html
MacPherson: Only the best jet fighter is good enough for RCAF
By Les MacPherson, The Starphoenix June 10, 2014
Choosing a new fighter jet for Canada has been a long and arduous ordeal, which is surprising since the choice is obvious.
We have to go with the American F-35. It's the best, a fifth-generation fighter in a field of fourth-generation rivals, and in air combat, the best prevails.
Generations of Canadian fighter pilots have learned the value of the best, sometimes the hard way.
Early in the First World War, the Germans ruled the sky because they had a superior fighter.
The Fokker Eindecker was of more or less modern layout, with a machine gun geared to fire forward, through the whirling propeller blades, without shooting them off. Against these the British sent up aircraft similar in both appearance and performance to box kites. They were sitting ducks.
When the British introduced better planes, they were briefly ascendant. The Germans answered with something better still, the Albatross, a streamlined fighter with two guns, and the upper hand was theirs again.
Back and forth it went, with the advantage always to the side with the better machines. No one was suggesting in those dark days that inferior fighters were good enough. Dark days like those are what we must prepare for.
It helped that a new fighter then could go from the drawing board to front line squadrons in a matter of months. Now, it takes decades. Here is one more reason for choosing the best. Whatever we get, we'll be stuck with for 30 years. That's a long time for regrets.
In the Second World War, inferior aircraft were destroyed or chased from the skies. The Japanese navy, for instance, started the war with the Zero, then the best carrier fighter in the Pacific. Zeros at first shot down American planes at a ratio of 12 to 1.
While the Japanese failed to significantly improve on the Zero, American carrier pilots met them with successively better fighters. The Zero by the end of the war was practically useless except as a suicide bomber.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Germans introduced the first operational jet fighter. It was too late in the war and too few in numbers to make a difference, but all other fighters suddenly were obsolete.
Today, there is a lot of guff about whether the F-35 really is a superior fighter compared to European, French and Swedish competitors.
Critics are saying the F-35 is not as fast, not as manoeuverable, that it is unreliable with only one engine and that it is more expensive than the alternatives. Well, the best almost always is more expensive. What sets apart the F-35 is not only its stealth but information technologies that connect the pilot with satellite surveillance, airborne radar or the sensor suite on a distant F-35. The aircraft also can intercept, decode and then hoodwink enemy radar into presenting a false picture. Enemies won't know what hit them. It's like Harry Potter against muggles.
As for the reliability over the vast Canadian arctic of one versus two engines, this was an issue in early days of jet engine development, since resolved. Single-engine fighters of more recent vintage are just as reliable as twin-engined fighters, in some cases, more so.
The single-engine F-16, for instance, after early teething problems, now has the best safety record of any contemporary American fighter.
A single engine also confers advantages of cost, maintenance, weight, streamlining and fuel efficiency while providing as much or more power, with the chance of engine failure compared to a twin.
A better place for a second engine is in a second fighter, say proponents of the F-35.
Capabilities are the highest priority, but there also are geographic and political reasons for choosing an American warplane for Canada. Do we really want a European warplane if war breaks out in Europe? Replacement parts will be hard to get if the supplier is occupied or under threat of military retaliation. Better to deal with our nearest, oldest and most vital defence partner.
If that means our air force gets stuck with a superior jet fighter, so be it.
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