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brickstser69
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At this rate Canadian air defence (or any defence) requirements are dealing with **** show south of their border, not whatever ambitions the same circus to south hold in dragging them into yet another war and then insulting Canadians and other allies over past participation in stupid wars US started and doubling down by directly and openly threatening their sovereignty and showing disrespect
Considering what is happening in Ukraine and Russia quite a few countries may opt for 2.5k drones like lancet instead of one f35. Or 40k cheaper drones…
Not a novel concept. HMS Glamorgan was knocked out of the 1982 Falklands War by an Exocet which had originally been mounted on a warship (ARA Guerrico). The ship was too badly shot up by Royal Marines to continue to fight, so the Argentinians took the launchers off the ship, flew them to the Malvinas, and plonked them onto a flatbed trailer.
Glamorgan got too close to the coast and took a missile for her trouble.
There is a minor difference between Chinese exercises of the coast of Australia and Canada's air defense requirement.
Chinese ships don't normally show up somewhere without warning. The Aussies can take their time either repositioning aircraft or just launching longer distance missions to that one threat bearing.
Compare that to the problem of the Canadian border where aircraft from pretty much the entire length of the Russian North Coast can get to pretty much any part of the entire North coast of Canada about as fast as an aircraft can fly over the arctic circle, with a required response time determined by the range the aircraft are detected. You need more aircraft available at the same time to cover the entire threat arc.
I reject the idea that Rafale is nearly as capable. Let me know its RCS carrying two tons of air to surface munitions and a couple of medium range air to air missiles. That's before the base RCS difference of the unarmed aircraft.
It certainly can be argued that Rafale is "good enough" for the purposes of whatever country is considering it, especially when one balances cost to capability, much as some countries choose Gripen over Rafale. Less cost, less capability, but more aircraft for the same dollars. F35, however, seems to be the best chance of long term viability. Put simply, Rafale is an older aircraft, less capable, and will be obsolescent sooner. That doesn't mean "bad", just not as good. Against the current generation of Russian systems Rafale may in practical purposes be as good as F35. Can you say the same future-proofing exists for twenty years from now?
Elon Musk's massive cuts in US government funding have suspended the work of a Yale team that helped rescue hundreds of Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia.Until now, the US government has funded a team of researchers from Yale University's Humanities Research Laboratory who have used open-source technology to track missing children and shared their findings with Ukrainian authorities to help bring them home.Thanks to their efforts, hundreds of children have returned home — but now that work will come to a halt due to Elon Musk's recent federal funding cuts.According to the Ukrainian government, nearly 20,000 children have been abducted by Russia since the invasion in 2022.
Elon Musk's massive cuts in US government funding have suspended the work of a Yale team that helped rescue hundreds of Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia.
Until now, the US government has funded a team of researchers from Yale University's Humanities Research Laboratory who have used open-source technology to track missing children and shared their findings with Ukrainian authorities to help bring them home.
Thanks to their efforts, hundreds of children have returned home — but now that work will come to a halt due to Elon Musk's recent federal funding cuts.
According to the Ukrainian government, nearly 20,000 children have been abducted by Russia since the invasion in 2022.
M-Rat is an evil dirt bag.
Wasn't it a neptune missile fired from the back of a modified truck which sank the Moskva? You got to give it to the Ukrainians, they are one creative bunch.
Do you love the smell of napalm in the morning? Well this is probably close - take a whiff:
Did you miss the Chinese flotilla doing live fire exercises off the east coast recently? Half the coast at minimum and a lot more if the Chinese start paying visits along the west coast.
That author might as well be MAGA. Serious delusions.
The Europeans are a stodgy, old-fashioned bunch who do not like new wrinkles in American foreign policy. But this has happened before. Many governments on the continent were extremely frustrated with the United States during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Still, they eventually came around and formed a coalition to fight in Afghanistan.
To say this bloke doesn't get it would be putting it mildly. He's like Trump in this respect. Europeans, Canadians, Australians, Kiwis - all obliged the US in Afghanistan and shed the blood of their finest, only to have the US dishonour and disrespect those sacrifices in the worst and most comprehensive ways possible, yet he thinks you just have to whisper F-35 and all will be made good.
I would find it hard as an Australian to convey just how much gravitas and regard Australia puts in the sacrifices of their armed forces, they don't forget or belittle this stuff the way Trump and seemingly this author does, who thinks they will just get over it so they can buy some shiny trinkets.
I was earlier reading about how Australia offered the US trade in strategic minerals they seem keen on, in return for some sense with tariffs, only to have the whole effort prove pointless. The crew of the ship of fools the Trump administration is, think there will be no serious consequences and that they can belittle and bully everyone else at will. I think countries are getting seriously angry, and it's building with each Trump brain fart and egregious betrayal.
As the tariffs went into effect, one minister privately fumed: “None of this makes any f--king economic sense.” Another cabinet member argues the US, not Australia, will ultimately lose out if this is how it treats its alliance partner: “We have things they need, and we can be very helpful or not very helpful.”
That 'we have things they need' goes triple in the strategic military sphere. The US better watch out someone in Australia doesn't do the smart thing and stop fire-walling Australia's military and intelligence cooperation with the US from unfriendly economic attacks.
Look for fighter plane diplomacy to triumph once again. The F-35 is a superior product and NATO members will just have to get used to the ins and outs of Trump’s foreign policy that focuses on “America First.” International relations that promote national interest are nothing new, and the United States believes that it can keep America great and still have diplomatic success in Europe.
It's not that superior. The French Rafale seems like it might have some serious stealth capabilities of it's own, which the French are keeping quiet about in the public sphere. I think it was just 2 days ago some Rafales engaged in some SIGINT work in the Black sea, meaning these things have some serious multi-disciplinary capabilities. Given their track, and assuming no Orc SU-35's showed up to welcome them, I think it's safe to say they are quite stealthy.
Contrast that with what happened a couple of weeks ago when a French RQ-9 Reaper was intercepted in the eastern med with the Orcs attempting to down it with air turbulence manoeuvres in the same way they downed the US operated RQ-9 in 2023; with:
The French warplanes on Wednesday stayed in international airspace and no encounters with Russian Air Force interceptors or ground defenses were made public.
This is supposedly the track of the two Rafales. I'm not sure what the dashed lines represent but I would assume it means they turned off their transponders flew East and then switched their transponders on again, as if baiting the Orcs - switched off their transponders and flew back west. Was this also a test to see if Orc interceptors could find them?
The main purpose of the mission might have been to gather targeting intel for Ukraine: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/48864
According to some news reports at the time, at least one of the Mirages had been fitted with an ASTAC electronics pod designed to detect the locations of air defense radars ashore. In a possibly linked incident, Ukrainian kamikaze drones hammered an air defense site and two oil refineries in southwest Russia less than twelve hours after the French Mirages exited Black Sea airspace.
Long story short, the F-35 probably isn't the only game in town. Both Switzerland and Germany appear to possibly be reevaluating their inclinations to buy F-35s, as well as Canada. So Portugal seems out and three other countries might cancel and possibly even Poland and Romania might be having second thoughts.
Seems to me with so many F-35s in Europe, the US could perhaps save future sales and restore confidence by setting up an EU controlled base where everything from re-tuning ECM suites to creating mission profiles and maintenance can be carried out, without a US veto.
Denmark is currently considering whether to go with Patriot or SAMP-T missile defence systems. Given the insane talk of just grabbing Greenland, I doubt the Patriot is looking like the best option to the Danes.
Trump said there are good vibes coming from Russia. Good vibes? Trump is in for a shock.
Hmmm… 1,800 km to the Kola peninsula. Maybe they should buy a cheap clapped out vessel, load some of these on it and sail it up past Norway - surprise!
Canada has a lot of airspace to cover. Australia really only needs to worry about a quarter of its coastline.
It's worth noting that there is at this time nothing else in the world which can fly off the current baby carriers like the British or Japanese have. If they want fixed wing, they need F35. Gripen, Rafale, they aren't options. F35 is staying as front line kit for those countries.
If Canada, like Australia, were ever to fight alongside another country and it wasn't going to be the US, what would be the chances it would be any country other than the UK or Japan for either of them? If absolutely necessary, I would not be surprised if countries with those internal capabilities and tech bases could not come up with some form of functional workaround.
Plus there is the minor issue that Trump is going to be gone in three and a half years and even Trump hasn't threatened to stop support of US-sold weapons to NATO nations. It's a damned good aircraft which will remain in service for decades. Much as Trump is saber rattling to express his displeasure, I think that's what a lot of this talk such as from Portugal is.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/03/the-f-35-fighter-nightmare-has-just-begun-for-donald-trump/
It's certainly worth doing some research on both Alexander Dugin, known as "Putins brain" a Russian extremist nationalist & imperialist & Russia's Neo-Eurasianism movement.
That's if anyone still seriously thinks that Russia isn't a treat to Europe's future.
Francie, I just came across this article and am passing it on to you….Russki Mir in action.
Quote:
A couple of days ago I saw a documentary on German television about private military companies in Mali. Murders, theft, rape.This beast has spread throughout the world.They bring grief and chaos everywhere.
UnQuote,
I'll tell you my position Francie….Russia wants to destroy Europe ( actually they want to destroy the world so that they can control it, sounds extreme, but its what they would like) They have been working hard at destroying Europe from within, and the US too. Getting Trump elected was a high mark in this plan. They played a big part in Brexit, and they specialise in sowing dissent, even here in Ireland, they will be supportive of any groups that are involved in protests. These will be the rabble rousers you see with the protesters. Dissention, disruption of society, they have been doing it world wide. It softens up and splits society. This is what they want….As for attacking Europe, yes, I think that they have plans to do that, as soon as they are capable of it, and the circumstances are right. Mad as it seem's…but when you have a madman in charge, do not rule out anything.
Russia getting this innovation and initiative is the real prize for Putin. Would be a serious mistake for the West to let Ukraine fall to ‘the dark side’. I think most Euro leaders know that too. Trump couldn’t give 2 F’s.
Ukrainians getting the maps out to see which tasty target are up for grabs.
I would have thought in international affairs that any threat or intimation to annex a neighbour would nullify any legal obligations betwixt the involved parties.
Another thing, the aircraft will be made in Canada so offsetting the F35 supplier losses.
Break contracts, have it drag out in courts for years, what US gonna do invade em? They already being regularly being threatened with that (in that’s scenario those expensive planes become junk anyways)
Next president could just be a dictator for a day and undo the contracts
That’s what US has been reduced to now by Trump and his supporters
They want a world without rules and laws, well that works both ways
As the saying goes, no point throwing good money after bad. Or falling for sunk cost fallacy.
Of course the military wanted the shiniest toys. Watch how they, in retrospect, reconsider.
Yes, but to be fair, the ones who got an invitation to tea, were for the most part, soon to be ex-friends of his, or from his regime.
They might be in a bind there. They have already signed a contract for 88 F-35s and it might cost a lot to break that contract, and they have manufacturers who supply parts for them to Lockheed. Their Airforce would kick up a fuss because they really don't want more than one aircraft type.
Why they went for such a huge number is a question. Australia ordered about 75.
The alternative looks like being the Gripen, as Dassault declined to offer them the Rafale as they want extensive interoperability with the US forces and that likely would have meant the US would get to learn all their secrets.
Canada will have to pivot to European arms. To purchase arms entirely from the one country who could pose a threat is nonsensical.
It wasn't a consideration before Trump but it should be going forward.
First Portugal now Canada
A message to Putin? "We can keep this up too"
A former Russian deputy Alexy Gorinov is serving seven years in a Russian prison for "fakes" about the Russian army. His crime was proposing a minutes silence in memory of victims of aggression in Ukraine. He's been in jail since July 2022. Now he's been added to a list of terrorists and extremists against the Russian state.
"It was not us who went, but Putin's Russia".
Article in the Siberian press about the times over increases in torture cases now in Russia. The general population are feeling more oppression by the FSB and FSIN.
You could just as easily say it's no fun being in a tank being hit with an anti-tank missile from a CV90. That and the fact that you can have more of them for the same cost.
Trying to understand your position here.
The Russians are conducting non-military attacks on Europe right now, with the idea of softening them up for a military invasion later in the future? Is this your position?
The Bradley did it's job, protecting the soldiers operating it, without the turret flying skywards after being hit by munitions unlike many Orc fighting vehicles & tanks. Just like a damaged bomber aircraft still manages to get it's crew back to base to fight another day.
Russia on the other hand sends many of it's troops into battle on mopeds, golf carts & using donkeys, most are not coming back to fight again.
