https://youtube.com/watch?v=Wm8g2UX-tMI
!strayans Interesting short doco on the venerable F/A-18 "classic" Hornet in RAAF service from the type's selection as a replacement for the Dassault Mirage III and introduction in 1984, to its eventual retirement in 2021.
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I didn't know the strayans flew the As and Bs until 2021 goddarn.
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Us
still have 80 of them
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They were heavily upgraded throughout their lifespan. Transition to the F-35 began in 2018, but wasn't complete until 2021.
Post-retirement, the Australian government sold 23 second-hand Hornets to the Canadians for their air force.
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Remember when the canadians kept trying to claim single engine aircraft were unreliable in cold weather to justify being anti-f-35 lmao.
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No, but hillarious if true. Engine reliability has come a heck of a long way since 1980.
Funnily enough though, the Canadian incompetence and can-kicking may end up saving them money, as the unit price of the Lightning II has dropped considerably since 2015.
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There was a huge push against it for months, in favor of the super hornet under the idea the f-35 couldnt fly in cold weather due to having 1 engine.
Of course other countries have other single engine fighters that operate just fine in cold weather, but that didnt stop the canadians.
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When have Leafs ever let things like "facts" stop them? Their Truth is that single-engine fighters aren't reliable and we need to respect that.
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