ON TARGET: Does Canada Really Need The CF-35 Joint Strike Fighter? — espritdecorps
ON TARGET: Does Canada Really Need The CF-35 Joint Strike Fighter? — espritdecorps
By Scott Taylor The controversial procurement of 88 new F-35 fighter jets for the RCAF was back in the news again last week. An anonymous whistleblower leaked documents to National Post columnist John Ivison which resulted in an article entitled How Canada’s military-industrial c
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tldr: why not just use drones.
We need both fighters and drones.
Human self-importance.
We think we're magic, despite the fact we aren't built for high g dogfights at all.
Kind of the same reason us being space colonizers is a pipe dream at this stage in our civilization. We can get a dozen highly trained peak human specimens to grow potatoes on Mars as a symbol, and I'm all for that, but not regular people. One mistake everybody dead, one cabin fever victim in the right position everybody dead. We literally can't even care for the almost infinitely forgiving habitat we evolved out of that's perfectly suited to our biology, and all that would require is stop actively, recklessly fucking it up.
Modern air combat isn't about dogfights anymore. A plane like the F-35 is an asset in the air because of its sensor suite way more than because of its ability to deploy ordnance. It'll let us patrol our massive airspace much more effectively than the 5-6 operational CF-18s we currently have.
Yes, drones will be important, but for long-range combat they'll get used in conjunction with manned aircraft in the air. The F-35 is a formidable platform for that. Tomorrow's air combat will probably consist of squadrons of autonomous drones under the command of a manned aircraft flying with them in formation.
tldr: why not just use drones.
Exactly, as mentioned in the article, manned warplanes are mostly a thing of the past in modern war.
They said that when the Avro Arrow was scrapped. There's been at least 6 more fighter jets built since then!