Note to Prime Minister Trudeau
Canada took 30 years to buy American made military helicopters to replace our Sea Kings. Helicopters that were supposed to be military, off-the- shelf products but weren’t. When purchased, they didn’t even actually exist except on paper, but we bought them. Or rather you bought them on our behalf. They are now not even four years old, they are not even fully delivered, and they are cracked and broken. We could have had the AW101 Merlin in the 1990s. A helicopter that has been in active service with the RAF for 27 years. One might suggest that Canada’s government which currently you lead has an extremely poor record when it comes to purchasing military hardware for Canada.
You have an opportunity to finally get one military purchase right
We’ve spent 22 years talking about new fighter jets. Can we just once buy something that works, is reasonably priced and isn’t more over hyped, overpriced, and under capable, issue prone, American junk.
Gripen
The Gripen ‘E’ jet is cheaper, faster, flies higher and farther than the American product. It can land on Canada’s northern runways. It’s built for Canada’s climate. It is cheaper to fly, and cheaper to maintain. It will be built in Canada with full technology transfer. This will allow Canada to build and improve our own equipment. Sweden is a friend of ours unlike Trumptopia. Remember? “There is a special place in Hell for Canadians”.
The Other plane
Too expensive to buy, too expensive to fly, too many flaws and too expensive to maintain. The Americans will never allow us to even see some of the technology in it. Only American companies can build most of the components. They are too secret for us Canadians to see them. We are a potential security threat after all. The F35 doesn’t have the range for Canada’s north. Its whole Shtick is that it is invisible. In this I heartily agree. In Canada and in Canada’s air force it should remain invisible.
