Gripen is next. With a factory coming to Canada to produce them, under the wise guidance of our Swedish friends. Win-win for Canada, although buying war machines is a lose-lose for humanity.
this post was submitted on 28 May 2026
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I agree with you friend, that buying war machines is a lose-lose, but I also think is necessary, to avoid situations like the invasion from greedy old men, like what Russia attempted with Ukraine
Strong fences make good neighbours
It isn't strategic for Canada to invest in its airforce, because it is mostly useless for the types of wars Canada may find itself into:
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A foreign (non-American) adversary attacks Canada: won't be necessary since the United States will intervene automatically as it doesn't want to have a (probably nuclear capable) enemy at its border.
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The United States attacks Canada: The airforce will probably be destroyed on the ground as they did with Iran. Asymmetrical warfare will be Canada's best leverage here.
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Canada attacks a foreign nation for some reason: This is just going to fail abysmally. Reminder that Canada doesn't even operate an aircraft carrier. If it attacks as part of a coalition, the CAF won't be the determining factor in victory or defeat.
It is strategic for Canada to invest in its air force because:
- Hmm, what happened in that far northern area? We should go check it out. Oh wait, we don't have planes to do that.
- Russia attacks Finland. Finland calls for help from its NATO allies. Canada sends its air force.
- Every single flight from Europe to the US west coast flies over Canada. Even flights from Europe to Mexico City pass over Atlantic Canada. One of those flights stops responding and there's a fear it was hijacked. Oh well, I guess the USAF can check it out once it crosses the border... if it crosses the border.
You can see some of the absurdities of not having a proper air force in Switzerland. They used to have an Air Force that only operated during daytime business hours. In 2014 an Ethiopian Airlines pilot hijacked his own plane and landed it in Geneva. Italy and France scrambled to escort the plane through their airspaces. Switzerland had to just let it do what it wanted because their Air Force didn't operate 24 hours a day.
In fact, for a huge and nearly empty country like Canada, the air force is arguably the most important military branch. Since prehistoric times, the size of a country / kingdom / empire was defined by the region in which it had a monopoly on the use of force. If Canada wants to claim sovereignty over the entire North, and not just the Montreal to Toronto corridor, it needs to be able to notice an invasion in the north, attack anybody there tying to claim its territory, and transport soldiers up there if necessary. That's all Air Force stuff.
A modern Air Force might not mean fighter pilots in supersonic planes. As things in Ukraine have shown, it might instead be mostly drones.
Or Canada responds when an ally activates article 5 of the NATO treaty. Then an air force will be needed
So coalition scenario. Then it will need more allies that just itself anyway.
My wife has a good way of putting it; "We can't be a progressive country if we're not a country at all." It sucks that we live in a world where such things are necessary, but they are necessary no matter how much we wish they weren't. You don't have to be pro-war to be supportive of a strong enough military.
If Canada buys the Gripen, it's basically an admission that they have no plans of using them on a modern battlefield, as their survivability would be extremely low. The same goes for any sub 5th generation platform.
And you know what? That's probably okay. The only modern war Canada would be likely to engage in, is one where they're fighting alongside the United States, and that doesn't seem like it would happen anytime soon either.
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This is starting to become a movement: countries going with Non-US tech or converting from it, and that's probably for the best, given the general lack of ethics and insatiable greed of US-based tech companies and the people who lead them.
Yeah, I mean as a US citizen I don't really care TBH. I just hope the planes they bought/are buying are better in some way, buying crap out of spite isn't a good reason. I really hope the US economy collapses and we get to spit roast all these piece of shit politicians. So please, stop buying US anything.
Thé base plane is made on Canada. Its also a job création d'or Canada.
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rEpUbLiCaNs ArE bEtTeR fOr BuSiNeSs
$5 gas at Costco is winning
Good. Put the Untied States on economic time out until it behaves
Economic timeout is the best "political" term I have heard in a looong fuckin time
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Why are there so many people in this thread simping for the United States?
Yeah. So many sad fans of expensive support heavy trash
Makes sense. Endless grafting with no real innovation has made US mil tec questionable. F-35 was downed in its first actual combat mission that was not a balloon.
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US is planning to take over Canada and Greenland for their resources , like they did with Venezuela
US wants to take over these countries but have 0 plans lol. They said they would take Iran in 24 hours, good luck taking Montreal.
The descendants of Lafayette will likely end up northward in that kind of conflict, in which case the US is fucked.
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They should rethink those plans
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Well saan aaf a bitch!
good :)
Canadian airmen are not going to be pleased with this one. Although the small lapse in reconnaissance capability is probably well worth the long term strategic planning and sovereignty benefits.
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