22 September 2010
The air force is spending some $9 Billion to acquire 65 F-35A Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to replace the aging fleet of CF-18s, acquired in the 1980s. The purchase is a logical continuation of a policy followed since the end of the Second World War to make the Air Force as fighter friendly and as independent of the army as possible.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a fifth generation fighter with incredible capabilities. It features hypermaneuverability, stealth technology, and, in some versions, vertical landing ability. In grunt language, that means it is super fast, can turn on a dime, impossible to spot on radar, and can land like a helicopter or, more precisely, like a Harrier jump-jet. The F-35 is designed for the role of air-superiority fighter and as an attack aircraft in a ground support role.
These 65 aircraft will replace our fleet of some 120 CF-18 Hornets, of which only 60 or so are actually flight-worthy. The rest have been grounded for budgetary reasons. The acquisition of the new F-35s represents, in other words, an absolute reduction of the fighter fleet.
Since the end of the Second World War, the acquisition policy of the air force favoured glamour over grunt. The CF-86, CF-100, CF-105 Arrow, CF-104 Starfighter, CF-5, CF-101 Voodoo, and the CF-18 Hornet are all air superiority fighters or interceptors. One looks in vain for an aircraft with the capabilities of the A-10 Thunderbolt II, AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter, or even an AC-130 Spectre gunship - aircraft with an operational relevance to beleaguered ground troops. The air force gave up its capability to ferry ground troops in helicopters in the early 1990s, and we have to rely on the Dutch who purchased these helicopters from us to ferry our guys around in Afghanistan.
Currently, the air force has one major operational role: the defense of North American air space from incursion by propeller-driven Russian bombers. The Avro Arrow was admirably suited to this job, and is carried on to this day by the CF-18 Hornet against the very same aircraft. The F-35 fifth generation Joint Strike Fighter will replace the Hornet in the job of greeting Russian pilots flying the 1950s-era Bear bomber.
Although the F-35 is supposed to be multi-role, it will never be used as a ground-attack aircraft, and will always be second best as an air-superiority fighter to the F-22 Raptor. An effective ground attack aircraft flies low and slow, has lots of gun-power, and is heavily armoured. The A-10C features a 30 mm multi-barrelled cannon with 1,350 rounds, plus 11 hard points for missiles and bombs, and costs $12 million a copy. The AH-64D Apache has a 30 mm chain gun with 1,200 rounds, carries 16 Hellfire missiles, and costs $24 million a copy. The F-35 carries a 25 mm gun with an effeminate 180 rounds, 6 hard points for other ordnance, and costs $65 million a copy. Essentially without armour, the F-35 would extremely vulnerable to ground fire and would have to make use of speed for safety, compromising its ability to hit targets precisely on the ground. Risking one of these in a ground attack role is plain nuts.
To be fair, the air force had little choice in selecting a replacement for the Hornet. The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a 4.5 generation fighter which, at $50 million a copy, is nearly as expensive as the F-35. It, however, is in production. The F-22 Raptor is a pure-bred air superiority fighter currently in production, but is even more expensive than the F-35. There isn’t much else out there.
Having blown its budget on the F-35, there is probably nothing left in the kitty to spend on Apache helicopters, which are still in production, and which would fit admirably in the doctrinal brigade group. A couple of AC-130 Spectre gunships ought to be affordable, and is all we really need. The A-10 is out of production. In short, the air force doesn’t have to subordinate itself to the army in an operational role because it lacks the aircraft with a suitable capability, and spent all its money on an aircraft which can only be used in an interceptor/air superiority role.
The fighter jocks in the air force should be congratulated on their newest jet. It is indeed an extremely capable fighter and will keep the air force current with its peers in other countries for quite a while. However, the operational separation of the elements of the CF remains. Unification in 1968 created a single force administratively, but the cultural separation of army, navy, and air force remains as strong today as it has ever been. That is reflected in the inability of the different elements of the CF to work together as a single team on one contingency operation, and this latest purchase ensures that separation remains.
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