Ideal timing for fighter jets
Dear Editor: I refer to the reports that Canada wishes to avoid purchasing new fighter aircraft from Boeing in response to the Bombardier affair.
I read in a recent issue of a British Newspaper that BAE Systems in the UK is planning to cut 2,000 jobs because of an “order gap” for its Typhoon (Eurofighter) jets.
According to the article, there is uncertainty over the timing of a large order for the jets from Saudi Arabia and therefore needs to slow production “before an expected order from Qatar.”
Surely this is an ideal time for Canada to jump in with an order. If BAE Systems has an order gap, it should be possible to negotiate a good price for the jets Canada needs which are likely small in number when compared with the anticipated future orders from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
I fail to comprehend the reported reluctance of Canada’s Department of Defence to purchase from the UK so long as the price is right.We are, after all, both Commonwealth countries which should make the UK a preferred source for such purchases. If BAE systems have a gap in their production timelines, they could probably deliver in a reasonably short timeline which might even be better than the short-term solution of buying second-hand aircraft from Australia which is apparently currently being explored.
The Typhoon is not, of course, a stealth fighter but the question which I have posed in a previous letter to The Penticton Herald is: Why do we need a stealth fighter?
The purpose of a stealth fighter is to mount attack missions into a country with highly sophisticated detection systems without being detected. If we envisage a future scenario where a state of war exists between us and a country with such detection systems, we would need a much larger air force than we currently maintain.
Our current military role of defence and assisting against targets such as ISIS has no need for such a capability and our need for such an aircraft amounts to little more than a super toy for our pilots to play with. Brian Butler Penticton