Thursday, October 14, 2010

Canadian Defense Analyst Urges The Scrapping Of The F-35 Purchase For Cheaper Drones

F-35. (Photo from The Daily Mail)

Scrap F-35s For Cheaper Drones, Defence Analyst Argues -- Vancouver Sun

OTTAWA — The government should cancel plans to spend $9 billion on a new fleet of F-35 fighter jets because they are not necessary, defence policy analyst Steven Staples says in a paper published Thursday.

Staples says the government should extend the life of its current fleet of newly refurbished CF-18 fighters by confining them to domestic surveillance and interception roles and consider replacing many of them in the long run with much cheaper pilotless drones.

Read more ....

My Comment: There some things in which a manned aircraft would probably be preferable over an unmanned drone. But concerns about F-35 price overruns are legitimate, as well as concerns that they will not meet performance expectations.

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