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.