Ottawa- The National Defense Department is looking at the possibility of complementing with the unseeded combat aircraft with its upcoming F-35 fleet complement.
The department is doing research on various options to achieve emerging technology from the undefinished documents obtained by the Canadian press show.
Documents suggest that buying a fleet of aerial combat drones that can fly with fighter jets, cost $ 16 billion and will require hundreds of employees.
This cost is in the upper range. Price tags and other aspects of emerging technology are uncertain, and the fact that the government is doing research on fighter drones does not guarantee that Canada will buy anyone.
David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said that Canada’s allies are already running in this direction, so a minimum Ottawa would like to understand how its nearest military partners would use the same technology.
He said that fighter drones can give the Air Force more flexibility to contribute to the affiliation and act as a force-maltypling that will increase the “mass” of the Air Force.
They are also cheaper than fighter jets.
“There is a trade-closet, especially in the west, with investing in expensive things. It can have super high level accuracy and survival … and we are moving towards being a rapidly expensive fighter aircraft that can do unprecedented things, but they are so expensive that you cannot build all of them,” Perry said.
“The widespread emphasis of the idea of being an unprotected vehicle that will be able to work with a pilot vehicle is that you can provide additional numbers that can potentially help provide adequate amounts to overwhelming opposition forces.”
Perry pointed to war in Ukraine, where Russia is starting a large -scale volcano of drones and missiles.
“If you have a complete bunch of goals to track, it makes it more difficult for any type of defensive system, at the same time, with all the coming,”.
Canada and its colleagues have never deployed unmanned air fighter drones that work closely with fighter jets.
Daniel Norton is a senior management system analyst with Norton Rand Corporation who has conducted modernization studies for the US Air Force for more than three decades. He said that the Canadian type drone crew is getting smaller than fighters, the cost of a traditional jet if the cost is purchased in bulk – and can be used in situations where the army would not want to put the pilot at risk.
Known as the “collaborative fighter aircraft”, vehicles are designed to function autonomously in some ways – such as targeted and flight – but managing their actions with humans. The future versions of technology can be completely engaged in autonomous functions.
Drone can be used to carry sensors, jammers or weapons to support normal fighter jets. They can also be used as a decoy.
Norton said that such new platforms would probably not be deployed in a fight by any country before 2030.
“I would be surprised if it happened soon,” he said.
National Defense unclear the most recent defense policy on such platforms in the update, as the government would “investigate”.
The 2024 policy update, titled “our answer, strong and free”, “monitoring and strike drones and a suit of counter-drain capabilities are committed to searching for options to obtain a suit.”
An internal initial analysis of various options for the “autonomous collaborative forum” refused to purchase a fully Canadian-made fighter drone.
The analysis stated that a potential path would have worked as Canada with partner countries on developing such new systems, and pointed to many such crafts being developed for Australia, America and European countries.
The analysis stated that such a purchase project can “provides Canadian aerospace firms with an entry point in the development and production of advanced arms systems.”
There are no current off -the -shelf versions, but many are being developed, such as Boeing’s MQ -28A “Ghost Bat” for Australia, General Atomics ‘in the US’ YFQ -42 and Anduril YFQ -44A.
Boeing’s aircraft is undergoing flight tests, while Enduril is expected to start tests this year.
Both the US and Australian Air Force use F -35. There are also many initiatives in Europe for autonomous allied aircraft.
When the Canadian Press asked Lieutenant-Jen. The new commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Jamie Special-Blanchet, can change in response to rapid growth in the RCAF drone warfare, said that the army is “already looking at those types of future capabilities.”
“It’s exactly something that is on our radar and something that we need to be ready in future,” he said.
In March, in response to the trade war with the US, Prime Minister Carney ordered a review of Canada’s plan to buy a fleet of F -35 fighter jets.
The federal government is expected to submit a decision on the procurement project by the end of summer.
According to Auditor General, 88 of Canada’s US-made stealth jets are expected to be planned to be $ 27.7 billion. At this point, Canada has only committed financially to buy the first 16 jets.