Canadian F-18 refueling.
Posted on 11/28/2007 9:33:05 AM PST by NorthOf45
Canadian fighter jets temporarily plug hole in U.S. air defences
By Murray Brewster
THE CANADIAN PRESS
November 27th, 2007
OTTAWA - Canadian CF - 18 fighter jets helped plug a hole in U.S. air defences for almost two weeks this month after American jets were grounded as part of a crash investigation.
The request to fill in for U.S. F-15s over the Alaskan coast was considered an urgent priority for NORAD, especially in light of the return of Russian strategic bombers to Arctic patrols.
Although not unprecedented, defence officials said the now-concluded operation was one of those "extremely rare" occasions when Canada was able to contribute to the defence of its much larger neighbour.
The aircraft are now back at their home base in Bagotville, Que., and the air force was able to lift what was described as a veil of operational security.
"I can't say precisely how many CF-18s were involved, but certainly there were a few," said Maj. Mike Lagace, a spokesman for Canadian NORAD operations, based in Winnipeg.
"We really don't want to say very much in case they're called on again."
On Nov. 2, an American F-15C - an older variant of the hardy fighter-bomber - suffered a catastrophic failure over Missouri and crashed, resulting in the grounding of 700 frontline aircraft.
The pilot ejected to safety.
Urgent inspections were carried out on the entire F-15 fleet with newer models eventually restricted to "mission-critical" sorties only.
U.S. Air Force Gen. John D.W. Corley, who heads Air Combat Command, said in a statement that the grounding had "significant operational impact" but that U.S. and coalition partners were able to make up the difference.
In Afghanistan, French Mirage 2000 jet fighters were called to replace American F-15s in providing close air support for NATO, including Canadians troops.
Japan also grounded its F-15s following the U.S. crash.
F-15s have been a pillar of U.S. air power since the mid-1970s, but the air force said in 2004 it intended to replace them gradually with Lockheed Martin's modern F-22 Raptor.
NORAD - the joint American-Canadian air defence command - had initially hoped to be able to fill the Alaskan gap with F-22s, but not enough of them were available, said Canadian defence officials.
The Canadian fighter jets were stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, near Anchorage, Alaska, and worked alongside the American 611th Air Operations Squadron, conducting sovereignty patrols on behalf of the Americans.
"It shows the joint capability where Canadian and American forces work as one," said Lagace.
The resumption of Russian Tu-95MS bomber flights this summer along the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic borders have kept NORAD "quite busy" and the pressure has not eased, he said.
After almost of decade of infrequent forays, the Russians startled Western militaries by resuming high Arctic long-range patrols, which had been a prominent feature of the Cold War.
Flying in pairs for up to 12 hours, the Tu-95MS strategic bombers trace the edge of American, Canadian and often Danish air space near Greenland, forcing NORAD fighters to scramble to meet them.
The enemies of freedom have always understood that any attempt to invade North America by air or sea will be opposed by both countries. I just don't relish seeing the US invaded by land from the south.
Guinness isn't Canadian, is it?
No. It’s not beer, either.
I could just see those Russian bomber pilots with their vodka bottles in one hand and controls on the other get the piss scared out of them by an F-22 doing a super cruise fly-by. The Russian would look down at his bottle, then over to his co-pilot who shrugs. He then glances back down at his bottle and tosses it over his shoulder.
Canadian F-18 refueling.
Thankyou Canada!
Thank you very much.
It’s getting long in the tooth, but it’s still a good looking jet.
Have they said what the next generation Canadian fighter is going to be?
There is a lot of discussion about redefining the CAF Mission. The problem is that most CAF bases are within a few hundred miles of the US Canada border, and they have this huge expanse of Northern territory over which they must exercise sovereignty. That means more Northerly bases, and THAT means using aircraft and equipment which can stand the extremely low winter temperatures ( 60 below zero Fahrenheit).
Without specially designed winterization packages, there are no US fighters equipped for such a role. The Swedes have the only one as far as I know ( Viggen etc, and other SAAB hardware). The Russians have cold weather fighters and equipment as well, but Canada sees Russia as their sovereignty opponent, so won't be buying from them anytime soon.
I think a fleet of 1000 A-10s and a few hundred SAAB fighters would do the job just fine. ;-)
Maybe Canada will surprise us all and design its own fighter. Who knows?
We are involved in the JSF program, so it will likely be the F-35. Any input Candor7 on how this craft could handle cold weather? Other cold weather countries (Norway and Denmark) are members as well.
Canada still has over 100 f18’s that they haven’t even taken out of the crate yet. They are basically obsolete even though they haven’t flown a mile. If they are ever to be put in service they will need extensive upgrades to be NATO compliant.
The reason Canada uses the fi8 is because of it’s extended range and doubles as Canada’s bomber as well.
Canada’s Air force has suffered years of neglect and budget cuts under the liberal governments, which is one of the reasons why so many good f18’s are sitting in moth balls. Although it’s a priority for the Harper government to expand Canada’s total military forces, I haven’t heard much where these f18’s fit into the plan, whether they will upgrade that unused stockpile or replace them with some newer version of the f22.
I’m sure we’ll hear the screaming from Canada’s loony left when the time comes.
Its a comlex question.
The Swedes know how to build that right in from the get go. So I am glad that Norway and Denmark are a part of JSF. I wonder why Sweden is not, they have the most cold weather expertise in the field.
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