Canada Ping!
Ping.
One problem, it’s French.
There are some who think we should buy the A-10s when you retire them, but I honestly don’t see what for. The Rafale is an interesting choice. There’s a lot of pressure to stick with a U.S. supplier but those F-35s are crazy expensive.
Canada Ping!
“Rafale already use several several air-to-ground US-made weapons (GBU 12, 24, 49, as well as unguided weapons). More importantly, its weapon bus is fully compliant with NATO Stanag 3910/1553.”
What was NOT SAID... anything about A2A weapons/sensor suite. I wonder how easily radars, missiles and data-links compatible with USAF stuff could be added? That is one of the benefits that we had: CF-18’s were essentially interchangeable in the air defense role with USAF/USN fighters.
I like the Rafael as an air frame and it would be a good choice, but it’s like asking a Mac user to switch to a PC. When you dig down into interoperability, you have to think long & hard before you switch.
I’ve said it for years now here on FR: The F-35 is becoming too expensive, and as it continues to spiral upwards in lifecycle price to operate, nations will start reducing or cancelling their orders for this white elephant, leaving the US taxpayers with the tab.
The best thing for all concerned would be to kill the F-35 now, before it wastes any more money.
If Canada were to forego the F-35, the next logical choice would be the Super Hornet.