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Everyone's optimistic until the size of the tax hike required to fund this alleged military expansion becomes known. Then it gets to go from boondoggle to absolute catastrophe, because none of the nonsense at DOD Procurement will be corrected before the buying begins. Those pricks are still going to gold-plate everything they buy and end up paying three times as much for the same items that every other NATO country will be paying stock prices for.

It's guaranteed. If Procurement and the entire supply chain aren't fixed first, and a lot of trough-feeding desk-jockey lifers in the Forces kicked out of the buying process altogether, this is going to turn into one of the biggest fiscal schmozzes in Canadian history. Guaran-fucking-teed.

   

Like the beautiful Sea King helos we spent millions on back in the 80's. And 90's.

And still don't have.

   

Sadly, the problem is we can't seem to get rid of the Sea Kings. It's their replacement that was ordered in 2004 for delivery in 2008 and still today isn't even 50% delivered and the first aircraft, received in 2015, isnt scheduled to be operational any earlier than 2018 and possibly later still.

Of course, not only was the timeline off by almost a decade but the final price is much higher than initially quoted and the aircraft i less capable than promised.

So if that's the benchmark I wouldn't hold my breath on any of this.

   

Well, there's always the potential comedic value from giving the government of Canada an extra $14 billion per year to spend. What could possibly go wrong? And it will surely go like this:

   

The wonderful re-equipment of the Forces is pretty much the same one that the previous government announced back in 2008. According to THAT plan, those same 15 ships that are now going to be built "after the next election" were supposed to be coming off of the ways, right now.

The last government was full of it and this one most certainly is, as well. It's yet another publicity stunt.

   

14 of the CH-148s are built, now. One was being tested back in April and it suddenly lost altitude without immediately obvious reasons. They are starting to work them up over ships but teething pains are preventing them from deploying.

This is a brand new naval helicopter design being developed exclusively(so far) for the RCN and you and I are paying the full development price of this new weapons system.

Thanks, Chretien.

   

I think we only have taken possession of 11 so far? That number could be out of date.

Yeah we could have had EH 101s delivered in the last 90s/early 00's when we took possession of their "don't call it a EH-101" SAR variant, the Cormorant had it not been for Chretien meddling. That aircraft is not without its own limitations -apparently an unsolvable problem with cracking tail rotor hubs that limits usage - but at least we would have moved on by now. Supposedly, all the other martime helicopters in allied service are apparently too small for the RCAF's longstanding requirement that the Maritime Helicopter be able to carry the complete search and rescue equipment in all mission configurations (e.g. when sub hunting or transporting cargo) so they can always instantly respond to any distress call.

   

11 sounds right. I read a few days ago that there are a few more awaiting acceptance down in Florida.

The Merlin's will be flying off of the new kipper carriers. The Royal Navy seems to like them. Mind you, if we had bought them, they'd be 25 years old, now and we would be talking about their replacement.

It is not a totally unreasonable idea to buy a Sikorsky product. The Sea Kings have each lived nine lives and a bit more. The Canadian taxpayer is getting seriously swizzed, though, covering Sikorsky's development costs.

   

These promises are the same BS as the c*ntservatives dangled. Anyone who believes it will happen is simpleminded.

   

... another publicity stunt ...

   

As far as I'm concerned, this is a fail. If budget items/increases are too far in the future (most of these don't take place for at least 4 years), there are too many chances to claw back funding to fight deficits or fund social programs.



Yep, more of the same old, same old...

   

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Freeland's a Fucking Idiot!

   

Kids are hungry, education is shit, poor people don't need their teeth, most people are in debt and can't pay it off, prices keep fucking going up even if the wages don't (if wages don't get to go up, why the fuck should prices? fuck!), but all the scumfuck oligarchs and cheats Thanos has described gets to divvy up a fat chunk of the taxes for their well-earned break. How many corporate interests are involved in our military work now? I know the U.S. loves its contractors, but I haven't really put much effort into learning how naughty Canada is with pissing the people's money away so the free market can get all up in some military affairs. I'm a tad too lazy to really read the promissory note but from the responses I think I get the gist.

   

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=main&mode=list&tab=list
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A lot of the smaller US Military contracts goes through FedBizOpps.

   

Shows the overwhelming cynicism and weariness that infects everything now that something like this can pretty much unite a place like CKA, both left, right, and otherwise, in seeing this thing for being a total crock. Normally unity is good, a nice break from the usual ongoing fights. When it's unity over a negative though, as in "this plan is totally fucked, and so are we", that's really not very good at all.

   

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