4 ms·

My understanding is that NATO members are required to maintain a certain type of jet, and the only one of the required type currently for sale in the western co

My understanding is that NATO members are required to maintain a certain type of jet, and the only one of the required type currently for sale in the western countries is the F-35. Even the Europeans are buying it. So you literally have to, by NATO contract.

nilstycho 4y ago
I'm not familiar with this. Can you share a source that explains more?
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  The thinking is that NATO should have some level of equipment commonality so that people can work together, communicate together, use a different country’s equipment in a pinch, etc. with minimal training. The Ukranians are using Western equipment but they had to be trained to use it first, and that took weeks if not months. That’s precious time in the kind of war involving all of NATO. I don’t know that the F-35 is the only plane currently meeting requirements, if only because that would represent a bottleneck and single point of failure.
  - amalgamated_inc 4y ago
    The Eurofighter is not the same type of jet as the F-35. It can't deliver nuclear weapons, for example. AFAIK there is no other 5th gen platform for delivering those available to western countries. I think I got the original idea of the "requirement" from this article: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44740/germany-has-chosen-the-f-35-as-its-future-nuclear-strike-fighter https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44740/germany-has-chos... But I might've misread it, this might only apply to that particular sale to Germany.
Thaxll 4y ago
This is not true, NATO members are free to buy whatever they want, as a matter of fact some of them buy f16/18, rafale, eurofighters, gripens etc ...
werdnapk 4y ago
Iceland has no military and is part of NATO. Jets not required.
siva7 4y ago
I doubt that is true. Airbus also develops advanced combat jets, namely the eurofighter: https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/defence/military-aircraft https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/defence/military...
openasocket 4y ago
You might be thinking of NATO nuclear sharing, where certain NATO members that aren’t nuclear powers themselves get access to nuclear bombs in the U.S. arsenal. In order to actually use those weapons you need a fighter/aircraft platform certified to use those nuclear bombs. And there are only a couple fighters certified for the nuclear mission, the f-35 among them. But only a handful of NATO members are a part of nuclear sharing, and Canada isn’t one of them IIRC.
- amalgamated_inc 4y ago
  I think you're right, I got confused. Posted a link to my source a bit below, and it refers to exactly what you're describing.
testrun 4y ago
This is not true. However, if you want to be part of the US nuclear deterrence program, then only certain platforms can be used. F-35 is one of them.
- osigurdson 4y ago
  I don't think the US wants a significant proliferation of nuclear weapons. Canada can make a nuke in a heartbeat.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
clouddrover 4y ago
It's more simple. Small air forces like to use the same jets as their allies because it reduces costs for everyone. It means there's a larger pool of people qualified to fly and work on the jet, nations can do maintenance deals with each other to reduce costs, parts supply becomes less of an issue, air forces can fly to allied air bases and know that the tools, infrastructure, and mechanics are available for their jets, training costs and resources can be shared between nations, flying and integrating with other air forces becomes easier, shared experience on the same jet helps identify and resolve issues, etc., etc.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

nilstycho 4y ago

I'm not familiar with this. Can you share a source that explains more?

bobthepanda 4y ago
The thinking is that NATO should have some level of equipment commonality so that people can work together, communicate together, use a different country’s equipment in a pinch, etc. with minimal training. The Ukranians are using Western equipment but they had to be trained to use it first, and that took weeks if not months. That’s precious time in the kind of war involving all of NATO. I don’t know that the F-35 is the only plane currently meeting requirements, if only because that would represent a bottleneck and single point of failure.
- amalgamated_inc 4y ago
  The Eurofighter is not the same type of jet as the F-35. It can't deliver nuclear weapons, for example. AFAIK there is no other 5th gen platform for delivering those available to western countries. I think I got the original idea of the "requirement" from this article: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44740/germany-has-chosen-the-f-35-as-its-future-nuclear-strike-fighter https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44740/germany-has-chos... But I might've misread it, this might only apply to that particular sale to Germany.

Thaxll 4y ago

This is not true, NATO members are free to buy whatever they want, as a matter of fact some of them buy f16/18, rafale, eurofighters, gripens etc ...

werdnapk 4y ago

Iceland has no military and is part of NATO. Jets not required.

siva7 4y ago

I doubt that is true. Airbus also develops advanced combat jets, namely the eurofighter: https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/defence/military-aircraft https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/defence/military...

openasocket 4y ago

You might be thinking of NATO nuclear sharing, where certain NATO members that aren’t nuclear powers themselves get access to nuclear bombs in the U.S. arsenal. In order to actually use those weapons you need a fighter/aircraft platform certified to use those nuclear bombs. And there are only a couple fighters certified for the nuclear mission, the f-35 among them. But only a handful of NATO members are a part of nuclear sharing, and Canada isn’t one of them IIRC.

amalgamated_inc 4y ago
I think you're right, I got confused. Posted a link to my source a bit below, and it refers to exactly what you're describing.

testrun 4y ago

This is not true. However, if you want to be part of the US nuclear deterrence program, then only certain platforms can be used. F-35 is one of them.

osigurdson 4y ago
I don't think the US wants a significant proliferation of nuclear weapons. Canada can make a nuke in a heartbeat.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

clouddrover 4y ago

It's more simple. Small air forces like to use the same jets as their allies because it reduces costs for everyone. It means there's a larger pool of people qualified to fly and work on the jet, nations can do maintenance deals with each other to reduce costs, parts supply becomes less of an issue, air forces can fly to allied air bases and know that the tools, infrastructure, and mechanics are available for their jets, training costs and resources can be shared between nations, flying and integrating with other air forces becomes easier, shared experience on the same jet helps identify and resolve issues, etc., etc.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]