As I'm sure Don is well aware of, there have been many stories on what the Liberal Party in Canada under now Prime Minister Trudeau promised it would do if elected. One that had possible ramifications to our defense industry and beyond was, the promise to end Canada's participation in the F-35 program. No formal decision has been made thus far from the Trudeau government but, the French are feeling confident enough to offer the
RAFALE to the Canadian government now.
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...in-time-05991/
http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/rafale/
http://www.military-today.com/aircra...ult_rafale.htm
The consequences of a decision by Canada to drop the F-35 will be huge for some countries as the
per unit cost before maintenance/support considerations are taken into account, will mean a million dollar increase regardless of who's buying them.
Hit the highlighted portions of the top/first para for those details.
This article will also have me take a look at the
RAFALE in the
French OOB, since this a multi-sourced document, it's enough to do a quick check, the issue here is the first version(s) weren't a ground attack capable platform. I'll see.
Also this is as good a place as any for the next article as it pertains to Canada and Russia. The Northwest Passage opening up is causing a "can of worms" between those two countries and others. Russia is wasting no time in establishing bases/or reopening in some cases Cold War era bases long shut down in the Arctic. At stake besides territorial issues are the vast resources and who'll control them in that region (
Is someone thinking about a scenario/or campaign here!?!) both Navies are there and we've visited as well.
http://www.armyrecognition.com/march...equipment.html
http://www.newsweek.com/2015/07/17/u...ic-349973.html
Regards,
Pat
