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Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

theguardian.com

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Re: Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

#151

Post by stackghost »

nradov wrote: post #142
stackghost wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The E-7 Wedgetail is a vastly more capable platform than the Erieye/GlobalEye in pretty much every way The airframe itself, perhaps. As for the radar, that remains to be seen. The E-7 uses an L-band AESA radar, whereas the GlobalEye's radar operates in the higher-frequency S-band. In general, higher frequencies are better for engaging smaller/faster targets, but perform worse in adverse weather conditions. It's been…

Was it just a publicity issue? There was a real risk of a capability gap in that all of the old E-3 airframes would have to be retired long before a space based solution could possibility come online. Plus in an era of anti-satellite weapons proliferation, a crewed aircraft might actually turn out to be more survivable.

Hypocritically, Kegsbreath himself is on record saying the concern was about E-7 survivability: https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/2025/06/us-defence-s...

Re: Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

#153

Post by interviewitis »

joering2 wrote: post #50
kashunstva wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada has historically relied on a relatively stable trading relationship with the U.S. That relationship is a shambles. It remains to be seen how Canada retools itself; I imagine that we will see a blend of on-shoring and new trading sources. So it’s less of an issue of “can’t” and more “hasn’t (yet)”.

Frankly to me the fact Canada is "retooling itself" knowing well that this nightmare should be over in less than 3 years, and most likely next President will be a Democrat, but yet they keep retooling, means their strong (reliable?) assumption is that Trump Administration won't leave the office at all, similar to how Putin stayed in power in what arguingly is a Democratic Country.

[dead]

Re: Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

#154

Post by vohk »

AlexandrB wrote: post #121
wat10000 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Wikipedia, Alberta accounts for 11.52% of the national population and 15.25% of the GDP. Such injustice.

That's not the injustice. The problem is that Alberta's political interests are very poorly (if at all) represented federally. This has come to a head a few times in the past with things like cancelled pipeline projects or the NEP[1]. So the issue is that Alberta has 11.52% of the population, contributes 15.25% of the GDP, yet must constantly fight against policies that put it at a disadvantage or run counter to its…

The AHSTF performed poorly because successive Albertan provincial governments slashed contributions to it, not because of the ghost of the NEP. It was established in 1976, then contributions were cut in half in 1983, and eliminated entirely in 1987. The NEP was gone by 1985.

What hurt Alberta was every cyclical crash in oil prices, and their steadfast refusal to implement additional revenue streams like a provincial sales tax while spending instead of saving their resource-boom surpluses.

Re: Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

#155

Post by fatbird »

standardUser wrote: post #108

As an American with mostly headline-level knowledge of Canadian politics, this Mark Carney seems unusually competent and effective, as far as heads-of-state go.

Will Ferguson wrote a book named _Bastards and Boneheads_ [0] that told the history of Canada's prime ministers as one or the other. The bastards made history, the boneheads are remembered for their folly.

Mulroney and Pierre Trudeau were bastards, and supremely consequential in Canadian history. Joe Clark and Paul Martin were boneheads.

Which ones Harper and Justin Trudeau are may be too soon to tell, but Carney is clearly a bastard.

[0] https://www.amazon.ca/Bastards-Boneheads-Canadas-Glorious-Le...

Re: Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

#156

Post by nradov »

bigfatkitten wrote: post #129
daneel_w wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Even if American equipment is superior ..." To address the article's context, is the E-3 Sentry superior to the Erieye/GlobalEye?

The E-3 is a dinosaur. The E-7 Wedgetail is a vastly more capable platform than the Erieye/GlobalEye in pretty much every way, but costs four times as much, and there are other issues with Canada and Boeing as have been pointed out by another commenter.

Delivery schedules are also likely a factor. Assuming the USAF actually orders the E-7, they'll probably get first priority on the Boeing production line. Any export orders would have to wait.

Re: Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

#158

Post by petcat »

stackghost wrote: post #148
petcat wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Texas has entertained the idea of seceding for 150 years. And they would be a G7 country if they did. But they would have to fight a war to do it. USA already went through this once. The only thing really stopping Alberta from leaving is whether or not BC, Ontario, and Quebec are willing to fight a war to stop it. And that gets a lot more complicated if the US also wants Alberta to go independent....

>The only thing really stopping Alberta from leaving is whether or not BC, Ontario, and Quebec are willing to fight a war to stop it. Unlike the individual US states, Alberta never joined Canada. It was not an entity that existed prior to Canada's confederation. Alberta was basically pencil-whipped into existence by carving out a chunk of an already existing territory (the Northwest Territory). Despite American and R…

> there is no legal mechanism by which Canadian provinces can unilaterally secede

Legal? Who's laws? Albertans can just declare that they don't respect Ottawa's authority, right?

Guns and bullets are the only "legal" currency. It's not paperwork.

Re: Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

#159

Post by switchbak »

bigyabai wrote: post #4

Saab makes excellent AWACS systems, this strikes me as a good choice. It'll be interesting to see if Canada also invests in the Gripen long-term, as a replacement for the aging CF-18 fleet.

The F-35 always seemed like a funny choice for a mainline fighter for Canada. Even the US has invested in many more F-15EXs. Having a Hi/Lo mix makes sense for a larger force, but equipping a smaller force with only exquisite birds doesn't seem to make much sense.

Then again, this is Canada - sensible decision making in military procurement just isn't something that happens here.

But the economies of scale are such that at least the $$ isn't completely out of whack (for purchase at least, maintenance I'm not so sure of). I would wager that the cost of maintaining those ancient CF-18s is pretty high now too though.

Re: Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

#160

Post by blackguardx »

jsLavaGoat wrote: post #58
danesparza wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We call this confirmation bias". I'm genuinely curious to know what you think the author's pre-existing beliefs are. You seem to have a few of your own: "Canada only has to patrol its northern border"

[flagged]

NORAD relies on radar stations in Canada.
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