Think about, in terms of history, that Canada had their own landing beach at Normandy during D-Day. The American’s had Utah and Omaha the British Sword and Gold and the Canadians Juno.
In relation to the size of their respective populations Canada punched far above its size.
However the sentiment here is correct, they aren’t living up to their proud heritage and history. I don’t think that’s just Trudeau either, I think much of the West has been complacent and disinterested in defense since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the USSR.
Even in the 80’s they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into modernizing their forces to keep in line with Regan’s spending and modernization.
The last sad part, if I were a Defence Minister of any Western nation I would hold my nose and practically refuse any overtures to buy the F-35.
I can’t see that plane ever redeeming itself in combat or history.
PAD:
"Think about, in terms of history, that Canada had their own landing beach at Normandy during D-Day." Exactly, Australia also contributed mightily.
PAD: "The last sad part, if I were a Defence Minister of any Western nation I would hold my nose and practically refuse any overtures to buy the F-35.
I can’t see that plane ever redeeming itself in combat or history."
I think it all depends on the value of stealth & multirole capabilities.
Stealth seems to me a game-changer, if it's what it's cracked up to be.
And I like the idea of a plane that can land on a carrier or destroyer(!), sounds like a winner to me.
Of course we don't know now if the F-35 can live up to such promises, or if a country like Canada would ever need such a thing.
But military spending at 1% of GDP will not get them much more than this:
