Loves fast Saabs, hates fast Stroads. I rant about politics, the military, & municipal policy. Opinions are solely my own. UofC MPP GOAT-Thesis.
Calgary
Joined January 2013
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A thread on how Canada can respond to tariffs by cutting the F35A order in half and buying the runner-up F39E to serve as the bulk of Canada's air power over the next 40 years. Using my slides from a previous RCAF Association debate & research from my @policy_school thesis.
My 2018 MPP thesis argued for a pure Gripen force. It was based on:
1) Canada being unlikely to spend more than 1.3% of GDP on the CAF.
2) Almost all the money going to the Navy (due to politics & likely cost-overruns).
I was right on 2, wrong on 1, & support a mixed fleet today.
some dumb straw men arguments that appear fairly often in Canada F35/Gripen debates esp on socmed.
1. It's not purely European! It's not ITAR free! It's not a 100% non American military aircraft. So the US has a say in where it can be sold.
Yes. We know. No serious person is claiming or has claimed it's a *pure* European (non American aircraft). That's dumb. There's substantial defense industrial involvement from both the US and UK. The idea that it's being considered because it's a "sovereign" (read: not American) aircraft is a straw man. And a lame one.
2. It's not as good as the F35 for penetrating Russian or Chinese airspace so choosing to buy Gripens would severely weaken Canada's ability to fight Russia or China in a war!
Yes. We also know. Which is why serious people in Canada and elsewhere are not claiming Canada should literally scrap all its F35As and *only* use GripenE fighters. What some serious people are actually saying is Canada should acquire a MIXED FLEET of F35As *and* GripenEs. With the latter used more for homeland defense and former more for power projection in or near peer or near peer hostile airspace. This is another dumb straw man.
A great summary from Noah. I think Héroux-Devtek would be low hanging fruit for Canadian jobs. HD currently makes Gripen landing gear in the UK. They could shift that work back home to Canada if we ordered Gripens.
This proposed site is flanked by two existing gas power stations - including the City-owned second largest power station in Calgary. Large data centres should bring their own natural gas power stations, and putting a new one right next to two existing ones, sounds fine to me.
Back to the original Gripen for Canada FFCP team. Although the previous bid had IMP using their existing facilities in Halifax. This sounds like it might be an entirely new factory somewhere else (Toronto, Calgary, Mirabel, or Winnipeg?). Place your bets in the replies.
🇨🇦 Saab Announces Key Partners for Gripen #Canada
"Saab has signed a new Teaming Agreement with IMP to establish a new final assembly line, for the #Gripen fighter in Canada, if Canada decides to acquire the aircraft. "
saab.com/newsroom/press-rele…
Alex McColl retweeted
You don't understand it because the idea doesn't make sense. In other words, your lack of understanding of this claim makes perfect sense.
The US and Canada do not need stealth fighters like the F35 to defend North American airspace. Especially not in the Atlantic and Arctic.
4.5 gen fighters like the F15EX and GripenE are good for that. And in fact even better in some ways.
5th gen fighters like the F35 are optimized for operations in or closer to high end A2/AD umbrellas. It's a good idea for Canada to acquire at least 40 F35s for deterrence or kinetic operations in central/eastern Europe and/or the Western Pacific. But for the NORAD role, 4.5 gen fighters are sufficient.
The USAF 4 star in charge of NORAD said this publicly. He asked for more 4th gen fighters for defending North American airspace.
Alex McColl retweeted
A left-NIMBY told me renters keep being renovicted; I asked how he deals with population growth and he said he opposes all developments that aren't affordable so I said it sounds like he’s just renovating old rental homes for rich people and then his tenants union started crying.
🤖 Made with AI
Brazil’s Gripen program enjoys bipartisan support in Brazil, but @LulaOficial really loves and celebrates his nation’s aerospace achievements.
Congratulations, President @LulaOficial, on your re-election in Brazil.
The relationship between Canada and Brazil has flourished under our partnership. Let’s seize this opportunity to make it even stronger, together — to create major new trade opportunities, protect the environment, and build greater prosperity for both our peoples.
Good reporting. The F35 Blk4 upgrade still seems to have big problems & the GAO isn’t allowed to report them. While the June Modernization report was blocked, the June Readiness report was released. It showed costs are up & readiness is down. We need a mixed fleet ASAP.
The first F-35 was transferred to Canada on Oct. 9 and the second on Oct. 21. But DND and the RCAF won't say whether they have been given a potentially controversial report on the status of the F-35's modernization program.
ottawacitizen.com/public-ser… via @ottawacitizen
Alex McColl retweeted
Small-lot apartment life in urban Canada won't work if each unit needs to store three bins of garbage per home for two weeks. Sunken collectivized waste with more regular pick up, is the elegant urban investment to unlock Toronto and Vancouver.
Alex McColl retweeted
🇸🇪 Reuters reporting on Saabs +216% Q3.
"Order bookings soared 216% year-on-year in the quarter, including a 24.6 billion crown #Gripen order from Ukraine."
(CEO) "Johansson said he was travelling to #Canada shortly"
reuters.com/business/aerospa…
Alex McColl retweeted
#Budapest flyover. 7 x #Gripen #October23
Not a great video but we can see that Puma squadron showed up today with seven Gripen, just as planned.
Via DRM News youtube.com/watch?v=MyJuDEEl…
The Spanish angle is interesting. Spain has explicitly said no to the F35 and is trying to extend their EF-18 Legacy Hornets to 2040. The Gripen-E would be a perfect Hornet replacement; made even more compelling if Canada embraces a mixed fleet Gripen order.
It arguably already is a tech stepping stone: Germany’s new Eurofighter EKs have the Saab Arexis EW system from the Gripen-E. A Gripen/Eurofighter mixed fleet would work for Germany, but it’s more likely they continue with EK style mods to Eurofighter and maybe buy Saab’s drone.
🇩🇪🇸🇪 Pick Sweden over British fighter jet offer, #German defense officials.
"suggests using Saab's #Gripen E fighter as a technological stepping stone"
Nice recognition. Unlikely ofc. But Gripen will be around another 30 yrs or so. Herzlich willkommen.
politico.eu/article/german-d…
Alex McColl retweeted
All four constitutional questions (Q6-Q9) have now flipped to "no", with Q1-Q5 staying "yes". I'm pretty sure these will be the final results.
It’s bad faith to argue a neighbourhood cafe is the same impact as a data centre. It’s also wrong to compare urban data centres to the HUGE ones going up in the burbs. Inner city data centres are normally hidden. There are actually a few (quiet & camouflaged) ones near my home.
Besides immigration, the next great ideological battle in Canadian politics will be between NIMBYs and YIMBYs.
What's interesting about this particular fight is that it does not fit seamlessly into the traditional political divide in Canada the same way immigration does.
Many conservatives, for example, fantasize about building sixplexes in laneways attached to 16-plexes in quiet, detached single-family-home neighbourhoods.
There's also a strange reaction to this AI-slop picture on the right, where many are racing to show their support for the idea of allowing retail businesses to operate inside quiet residential neighbourhoods.
With most YIMBY ideas and the strange ritualistic endorsement that people display on social media, there's always a sense of quiet hypocrisy. We all know that most outspoken YIMBYs would actually be deeply upset if a giant data centre were built in their neighbourhood. We all know that if the choice were theirs, they would probably not live in a home next to an extremely busy corner store or restaurant.
There's always nuance to this debate, and ultimately major projects and housing do need to be built.
I look forward to seeing how this great debate plays out over the next 5 years.
I blame Ernest Manning. Alberta used a hybrid ranked ballot Rural-AV/Urban-STV system before he decided he wanted to gerrymander himself a super majority. He switched Alberta to FPTP in 1959, without a referendum or even an election promise.
Someone high up in the US Army really wants their HADES program to deliver on-time.
Trump on Bombardier: “I always viewed them as a Canadian company. You know what I’m talking about. But now we find out they have a presence here, and we’re not hurting them if they’re in Kansas.”
By @jendlouhyhc:
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
