Posted on 08/01/2010 12:54:28 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
The Conservative publicity machine scrambled into action as a common confrontation between Canadian and Russian military planes turned into a campaign for $16-billion in new fighter jets.
The story started on Wednesday when NORAD officials spotted two incoming planes, identified as Russian TU-95 long-range bombers, heading toward Labrador.
The aircraft never entered Canadian territory, which starts 200 nautical miles outside of the land border, but they were clearly within the 300-nautical-mile “buffer zone,” according to Canadian defence officials.
Two CF-18s scrambled out of CFB Bagotville, Que., and started shadowing the Russian planes about 50 nautical miles outside the Canadian territory, until they headed northeast and out of the “area of interest.”
While similar incidents occur 12 to 18 times a year, a story on the confrontation appeared on Friday morning in the Sun Media chain. Within a few hours, the Conservative Party issued talking points on the matter designed to boost the Harper government’s plan to buy Joint Strike Fighter F-35 fighter jets to start replacing the CF-18s in 2017.
“This incident demonstrates why it is vitally important for the Canadian Armed Forces to have the best technology and equipment available,” the Conservative Party said.
The Conservatives went on to attack the Liberal opposition, which has vowed to put the purchase on hold and re-evaluate the CF-18 replacement program if it comes to power.
“Mere days ago, [Liberal Leader] Michael Ignatieff pledged to cancel the new fighter jets the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces urgently need. Embarrassingly for him, Russian bomber flights over the Arctic – just two days ago – underscore why our men and women in uniform need modern equipment to do their jobs,” the Conservative talking points stated.
The Conservative parliamentary secretary for national defence, Laurie Hawn, added on his Twitter account that F-35
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Fighter planes or more welfare payment to “poor refugees”?
Aircraft carrier at sea or more dough to Social (in)Security and SSI?
Ignatieff is a fag.
Well, I’m all for the Canadians wanting to buy F-35’s.
That said, unless the Bear has developed some amazing capabilities in the last few years, a Hornet ought to be able to shoot one down as easily as a JSF. This incident would seem to be about Tu-95 crews being able to get close to Canadian airspace before they were detected by ground radar, not the capability of the response fighters.
Perhaps adding a couple dozen Hawkeyes to the defense budget might be in order?
I hope the Canadians do buy F-35s from us. I’ll feel better if there is someone to the north of us with some up-to-date firepower.
I agree that advance surveillance should be the priority here, but I think the reason they want the F-35s is not to deal with the Bears or other long-range attack aircraft, but the modern fighters that would be accompanying a strikeforce. The Bears wouldn’t be alone.
I don’t know the range of the newest fighter the Russians have been bragging about, but it’s undoubtedly capable of in-air refueling. I can’t remember what they are calling it; there was an article here on FR within the last month about it. This latest Russian fighter would blow through a F-18 or F-15 fighter. I’ll bet that’s why the Canadian conservatives are wanting the JSF - their defense fighter screen needs the advantage of a low radar profile.
That’s a good point.
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