Canada's fighter choice favors numbers and supportability

Which fighter best fits Canada's needs: F-35, F-18, Gripen, or another design?

He would choose F-18s, arguing that Canada needs affordable numbers, strong supportability, twin-engine safety, and useful suppression capabilities more than day-one stealth strike.

Canada is unlikely to be the first force through the door in a high-end air-defense penetration campaign. On that basis, buying more supportable F-18s makes more sense than paying for fewer stealth aircraft. An electronic-warfare or suppression variant would also be useful once allied forces began reducing enemy air defenses. Canada's geography and mountains make twin engines attractive, strengthening the case for F-18s over F-35s.