The Department of National Defence is looking into
whether it should bolster its incoming F-35 stealth fighter jet
fleet with fighter drones.
Unclassified documents obtained by The Canadian Press
suggest that buying a fleet of uncrewed combat aircraft that could
fly alongside the jets could hit $16 billion and would
require hundreds of staff.
The idea of acquiring the battlefield drone technology was
floated in Ottawa’s most recent defence policy update as something
to explore.
While Canada and its allies have never had this kind of
capability before, the technology could act as a force-multiplier
and would be cheaper than conventional jets.
A preliminary analysis of the various options suggests that
buying a completely Canadian-made platform is not in the cards.
It does, however, say there is a path for Canada to
collaborate with partner nations on developing the technology.
(The Canadian Press)
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