Honestly, it doesn’t matter if it’s possible or not. The very fact that key replacement parts of the jet can only be built in the US means that the very moment they chose not to sell those parts to Canada, the F35 is on a strict time limit before becoming the world’s most expensive paperweight.
And that time limit isn’t even very long. Maybe two years of normal use outside of a war, as little as a month or two during a war or any sort of foreign deployment.
We’re kinda locked in for the first few planes, but despite cancellation fees, we need to replace our aging fleet with something from someone that won’t throw a tantrum and erase a key component of our national defense with the swipe of a pen.
During the 1960s, the Australian Army bought the Swedish 84mm Carl Gustaf rocket launchers. It was believed perfect for bunker busting. However, Sweden refused to sell us the necessary munitions because we wanted them for the Vietnam War.
If you don’t own the supply chain, you don’t own the weapon system.
I mean, having a few of the plane is going to be handy… it’s rare that your enemies will sell you their equipment to dissect, normally you have to capture it
and it has ultra poor flight time such that maintenance, and part replacements, are ultra frequent. Wouldn’t surprise me if 3 flights is a maximum without Lockheed consultant required word.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter if it’s possible or not. The very fact that key replacement parts of the jet can only be built in the US means that the very moment they chose not to sell those parts to Canada, the F35 is on a strict time limit before becoming the world’s most expensive paperweight.
And that time limit isn’t even very long. Maybe two years of normal use outside of a war, as little as a month or two during a war or any sort of foreign deployment.
We’re kinda locked in for the first few planes, but despite cancellation fees, we need to replace our aging fleet with something from someone that won’t throw a tantrum and erase a key component of our national defense with the swipe of a pen.
During the 1960s, the Australian Army bought the Swedish 84mm Carl Gustaf rocket launchers. It was believed perfect for bunker busting. However, Sweden refused to sell us the necessary munitions because we wanted them for the Vietnam War.
If you don’t own the supply chain, you don’t own the weapon system.
That’s actually pretty badass of Sweden…
Not arguing that it wasn’t. Perhaps we shouldn’t have bought shit we couldn’t use?
Did it seem as though I was trying to argue with you?
No, you took a rhetorical statement literally.
I was conceding your point.
I mean, having a few of the plane is going to be handy… it’s rare that your enemies will sell you their equipment to dissect, normally you have to capture it
and it has ultra poor flight time such that maintenance, and part replacements, are ultra frequent. Wouldn’t surprise me if 3 flights is a maximum without Lockheed consultant required word.