{"id":352394,"date":"2024-03-07T09:36:34","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T14:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/?post_type=features&p=352394"},"modified":"2024-03-07T09:36:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T14:36:35","slug":"rcaf-fifth-gen-fighter-jet-transformation","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/features\/rcaf-fifth-gen-fighter-jet-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"RCAF: Fifth-Gen fighter jet transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II will be landing at Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) fighter squadrons sooner than many realize. The urgency to have infrastructure, personnel, and procedures to manage this new era of capability is ramping up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The almost 10-year delay caused by political wrangling has in many ways benefitted the RCAF and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Instead of the original 65 jets requested by the Harper government, 88 F-35s are on order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The CF-188 Hornet has served in the Royal Canadian Air Force since 1982. Derek Heyes Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Instead of a mix of early block F-35s, Canada will receive the most advanced version of the Block 4 fighter, including the Sidekick modification that allows the aircraft to carry six air-to-air missiles internally rather than the four-missile capability that had been the case with earlier blocks. Instead of paying more than US$100 million per fighter, the initial price will be less than US$80 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, as the 1,000th<\/sup> F-35 flies this year, everything about the program has matured. The F-35 is well understood, a vastly different situation than was the case a decade ago when Canada originally planned to buy the fighter. As a Lockheed Martin F-35 test pilot, I would have flown the first Canadian designated fighter years ago. Time has benefited the F-35 enterprise and much of the controversy surrounding the program has since abated. Canada chose the right fighter to defend this country and its interests around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading this feature article in RCAF Today magazine.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Far more than a fighter replacement program for the CF-18 Hornet, the F-35A represents a generational capability change for the RCAF. A former \u2018Hornet Baby\u2019 and F-35 test pilot shares some key lessons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":352398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[15,1527],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-352394","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military","category-rcaf-today","entry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features\/352394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/features"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skiesmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}