 Retired colonel Paul Maillet speaks to the media at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 25, 2012. (ANDRE FORGET/QMI Agency)
|
OTTAWA - A former Canadian Air Force engineer and federal Green Party candidate is panning the plan to buy F-35 fighter jets.
Retired colonel Paul Maillet said the fighter jets are not suitable for Arctic missions.
"How do you get a single engine, low range, low payload, low maneuverability aircraft that is being optimized for close air support and battlefield interdiction to operate effectively in the North?" Maillet asked. "There is massive involvement with the old boys' club with regards to air force generals and politicians and the way they get together and structure these things before we have a competition."
Maillet was invited to Parliament Hill by the Rideau Institute, a critic of the plan to replace Canada's fleet of fighter jets and a group opposed to armed intervention.
Having spent years working on Canada's fighter jets, he said while Canada could purchase a few of the upgraded F-18 E/F models, he thinks it would be ideal to keep the old CF-18 jets in the air until unmanned drones take over the skies for defence and surveillance.
"The future is in the domain of drones. We reluctantly gave up cavalry and swords. There is another revolution in military affairs going on here," said Maillet. "Look at how long we had the Sea Kings flying, we can keep this (F-18s) flying for an extended period of time."
The 1960s-era Sea King helicopters were eventually dubbed 'flying coffins' by some in the military, as pilots and crew have died in several crashes, and they needed 30 hours of maintenance for every hour of flight.
The retired colonel is a member of the Green Party and opposed to Canada sending soldiers with guns into Afghanistan.
"We could either be peacekeepers or we could be war fighters; I did not like the turn that the military took with regards to the application of force and in a sense abdicating two Nobel Peace Prizes that we had for peacekeeping," said Maillet. "The question is what we should be doing in these theatres, and I don't think we should be killing people."
