APAR / SAMPSON / SPY1

I assume you meant to say that information about the true capabilities of these radars is restricted? If this is what you meant to say, I of course agree. With regards to your statement about the members of this forum, perhaps it is most accurate to say that there is no person that is authorized to divulge relevant information onto this forum that would be needed to make a thorough comparison between, e.g. APAR and SAMPSON. As well, while some people may know much about one system (including information which is not public and which they could not divulge in any case), they may know very little about another system (for example, only publicly-available information). So basically, this has been a long-winded way of saying I agree with you (at least the portion I quoted below).

In any case, the main point (of my previous post) was not related to F124 vs. T45 … this is not my main area of interest … my interest was more on APAR vs. SAMPSON vs. SPY-1 … and my point was simply a cautionary one … several posts were made earlier in this thread that put APAR in an unfavourable light as compared to these other two systems, and I felt such posts were misguided.

On the question of radar, obviously a lot of the capabilities of APAR are restricted, that is true, it is also true for Sampson and the latest versions of SPY-1 and I don’t think anybody on this board is truly informed to talk about all three systems.

– The Halifax class is fine and is being upgraded. Maybe the upgrade is somewhat modest, but better than nothing.

– JSS is very important and seems to be moving forward. Same thing for other modes of transport that will probably end up being CH-47D, C-17, and C-130J (or in the latter case, slight possibility of A400M, with the emphasis on slight). Also new medium trucks being built and we’ve recently introduced the G-Wagons.

– MGS … tough one … I’ve heard mixed reviews on this. Hopefully GDLS will be able to get it sorted out and it will provide a useful support for the infantry. Also LAV III TUA if it goes ahead will provide some AT capability. Tanks … sigh. Canada seems to have given up on tanks, mostly for political / strategic mobility / cost reasons. In my view the tank is still the queen of the battlefield, so hopefully someday (2020?) we’ll get around to getting some … perhaps optomized for urban ops (i.e. 120mm short barrel low vel gun, plenty of MGs, good _all round_ armour, etc.)

– CF-18s are good for now … being in the process of an upgrade as we speak. I’m sure that when the time comes Canada will bite the bullet and sign on to the F-35A.

– We got some M777s … that’s good news. Only 6 of them though. No plans to replace our M109s either … so self-propelled artillery seems to be a thing of the past for us. Hopefully we can build up enough towed 155 and 105 mm artillery to be able to compensate.

– I’d love to see an advanced SP mortar system procured on a LAV III frame. I think it would make a lot of sense. However, I don’t know if anything is in the works.

– Finally, something very close to my heart is the eventual replacement of the Iroquois class. It now appears this will be combined with a replacement to the Halifax class. I’m rooting for an updated version of APAR + SMART-L as the basic sensor system, but who knows what 2020 will bring? At the very least, at least 4 of the ships should provide area air defence and fleet command capabilities … the other eight (assuming they stick with 12) can have similar hulls but more toned down capabilities (i.e. point defence could be sufficient). Having said all that, it is hard to know what is truly the most cost effective and efficient way to procure a new generation of ships. The all-in-one proposal is probably polticically motivated (since it is always a hard sell to convince the Canadian public to buy anything, much less three things!), but perhaps a low / med / high mix might be in order … for example 10 OPVs, 6 frigates, and 4 destroyers.

What Canada needs is a larger navy of patrol class frigates to secure its waters, especially from those pesky foreign fishing vessels depleting our stocks. The Halfiax class frigates can perform various roles, we really just don’t have nearly enough of them. The Sea King helo severly limits its capabilities however. We should also look into new destroyers.

Having Escort carriers or ships in the same class is a long way off for Canada though.

I’m glad though the current government(which Im not particularly fond of)
is not selling our logistical support short.

The DND should look to purchase new MBT’s, there is no way our Leo’s will match up against modern armor in a future conflict. Also, we need a long range multi-role fighter to replace our Cf-18’s. They don’t have the range to operate in such a vast country with our limited airbases.