Re: RE: $2.1Billion for military machines
Colpy said:
Mogz said:
Sadly, as i've highlighted in other posts, the Canadian Government often avoids the cheapest and quickest ways, in favour of ways that'll mean everything is produced in Canada. It's a stigma our Nation cannot get away from.
Check out my previous post regarding things "made in Canada":
http://www.canadiancontent.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15563&highlight=upholder
Yeah, I read your post, and it is a scandal how equiping the military has become a political hog trough.
That said, I believe the frigates built here in Saint John were good ships, delivered on time and under budget.
Even at that, I'd buy them off shore if we could get 4 for the price of 3, and quickly.
You're right colpy, it is a shame. However I will never argue that the Halifax Class aren't good ships, they are, amazingly so. For sure one of the best things ever built in Canada. A friend of mine serves on HMCS Fredriction, and he loves it, by far better than the Iroquois Class he says.
Oh great, you had to remind me of that piece of crap lsvw. How many known defects did that thing enter the system with?
How is tcccs doing? I left in 98 so I never saw it introduced. I heard all about it as it seems a quarter of the members of 746 were working for CDC at one time or another.
It's probably a good system but another instance of we could have got more, quicker if we'd bought off the shelf.
I'm not sure off the top of my head how many knowns defects the LS had, however I do know that when it first entered the Land Force, it had poor clearance and the transmission would be ripped off when it went off roading. The fix? Weld a steel "bumper" at a 45 degree angle in front of the tranny to deflect anything that could rip it off. Disgusting.
TCCCS is really good actually. It can be flunky at times, but having the ability to remote trucks together via fiber optic means more people on the means, yet less radios over all. The 521 system sucks though, that's the LAR (light assault radio) and it's range is like 2km on a good day, usually hovers around the 800m mark. Not worth it really. Other than that thought TCCCS is a decent system, it's complicated for the average soldier, but most Signallers are pretty handy with it.
We should really go on a huge spending binge if the thruth be told, Especaily for Airforce, we need some new Fighters, And it wouldnt hurt to get some Apaches, and a ton of blackhawks and heavy lift copters like chinooks and for the navy super stailions would be ideal.
Navy, I donno about to many new ships I say we need more than 2 main Naval bases first before we go to crazy, but steath ships would be ideal. then build the navy up to a safe number about 250 warships and patrol ships throw in 4 aircraft carriers and have 2 out at sea at all times, loaded with new fighters......
I know thats wont ever happen, but if we were to ever become a super power that would be a decent start.
I won't argue Scotian, however I Just don't see our military ever getting to that point. I do agree our Air Force does need things; Fighters would be good (we should, as far as I know, still be getting Joint Strike Fighters when they start to roll out), and Apaches would be a great force multiplier for our Land Force, especially in Afghanistan. Blackhawks would be amazing, enough of this Griffon shit, it'd be great to have an aircraft that could haul heavy loads right in to combat. We
ARE getting Chinooks however, in fact the CDS, General Rick Hillier will be at Steele Barracks (Edmonton) tomorrow to deliever a speech. I'll be for sure attending that to hear what he has to say. The rumor is that the CF will be getting around 20 refurbished F series Chinooks from the U.S. Not as good as new, but still, I won't complain, and we'll get them right away which is a bonus. As for our Navy, yeah, it needs to be expanded, especially in the Artic Patrol capacity, and our Coast Defence arm. A few carriers would be nice, and the Conservatives have looked at building and/or buying two WASP Class LHD-1's from the United States. While not
TRUE carriers, they'd still get the job done. We doo need to expand our surface fleet however, 12 Frigates and 4 Destroyers is not enough to project our interests abroad. Just to put it all in perspective, Canada had the following ship allotments during World War II:
Aircraft Carriers: 2
Cruisers: 5
Destroyers: 28
Frigates: 70
Corvettes: 131
Escort Destroyers: 96
Total:332
Our current Naval strength:
Frigates: 12
Destroyers: 4
Coast Defence Vessels: 12
Submarines: 4
Replenishment Ships: 2
Research Ship: 1
Total:35
Amazing how a nation can go from the 3rd largest Navy in the World to one of the smallest. Boggles my mind.