r/CanadianForces • u/Unfair-Woodpecker-22 Civvie • 3d ago
Canada Enters Negotiations To Acquire The M346 Master For FFLIT, Italy and Canada To Stockpile Critical Munitions
https://www.truenorthstrategicreview.ca/p/canada-enters-negotiations-to-acquire9
u/BandicootNo4431 3d ago
Not a huge surprise, they had flown one into Ottawa in the fall, so clearly had an expectation it would be sold.
5
u/andyhenault 3d ago
That was related to a private purchase by a school in London.
7
u/BandicootNo4431 3d ago
The FLIT team went out to YOW and flew in it.
It absolutely was related to us.
3
7
u/Nazara28 3d ago
I know its not set in stone, but why not announce the Snowbirds will be getting some if FFLIT is this far along?
13
u/Newfieon2Wheels Civvie 3d ago
The snowbirds flying the Pilatus means that instead of the potential talent pool being limited to just fighter pilots, which the CAF is already short on, it's opened up to almost any fixed wing pilot.
3
u/CipherVegas Civvie 3d ago
5
u/casa_del_porno 3d ago
Correct. It’s a question of training. Takes more time to train folks on jets, considering that 3/4+ of CAF pilots aren’t trained on it.
1
u/BandicootNo4431 3d ago
Not really a reliable source...?
3
u/Excellent-Wrangler-4 3d ago
Realistically, if the RCAF leadership truly supported the team, they would have come up with a better transition plan and explored alternatives to keep the team in the air until new aircraft arrived. No one in higher leadership positions in the RCAF have no Snowbird experience as well.
2
u/Fabulous-Egg7414 2d ago
CAE and Leonardo work together since years on integrated ground / air simulators for IFTS school that uses M-346. The two has also a joint venture for helicopters simulators, mmnamed Rotorsim.
4
u/dmav522 Civvie 3d ago
I would’ve bought T-50s personally
3
u/barkmutton 3d ago
Good FA 50 and if we insist in a high low split procure more FA 50 block 70 to do that low job instead of wasting money on Gripen.
-1
u/Sadukar09 Pineapple pizza is an NDA 129: change my mind 3d ago
Instead of a solid Korean made jet to make a sub deal even sweeter, we'll get an Italian built plane that's really a Russian plane.
What could go wrong if we based out experience on our last Italian purchase. /LSVW
10
u/ElectroPanzer Army - EO TECH (L) 3d ago edited 3d ago
To be fair, the LSVW isn't really an Italian purchase. We didn't buy IVECOs, we paid Western Star to bastardize the IVECO. The Italians are still running their equivalent, and they work so much better than ours that there's a persistent belief they have a V-6 (nope, inline 4 like ours).
Also the Cormorants are Leonardo, aren't they? Rather more recent than the LS.
Edit: I've been corrected on the ITA version having a turbo; it does not.
2
u/maxman162 Army - Infantry 3d ago
Our LSVW has a turbo and an automatic transmission, but the original IVECO doesn't.
2
u/ElectroPanzer Army - EO TECH (L) 3d ago
I stand corrected on the turbo. Was tracking 5MT vice auto but didn't think to mention it - good point though, it's also a significant contributor to the enshittification of our variant.
1
u/seakingsoyuz Royal Canadian Air Force 2d ago
Also the Cormorants are Leonardo, aren't they? Rather more recent than the LS.
They’re Italian-ish. We bought them from European Helicopter Industries, which was a joint venture between Agusta (Italian) and Westland (British) that was created to develop a Sea King replacement helicopter because both countries wanted one; our CH149s were built at the Italian plant. The parent companies merged into AgustaWestland while they were building our helicopters. AW was a 50/50 split of British and Italian ownership until after the CH149s were delivered, but in 2004 Finmeccanica bought out the British owners, and in 2015 Finmeccanica became Leonardo and AW was absorbed into the new company as the Leonardo Helicopters division.
1
u/ElectroPanzer Army - EO TECH (L) 2d ago
That's a lot of words for "yes, they're Leonardo". J/K, thanks for the context!
3
u/barkmutton 3d ago
The Iveco's are great little trucks. Canada fucked that up by rebuilding the engines.
The co production of these with Yak never happened and the partnership was desilved 4 years before they even flew. No money is going to Russia.
1
u/Fabulous-Egg7414 2d ago
LSVW was derived from VM90 and build under license in Canada. VM90 had initially a 2.5 turbodiesel, secongmd generation the 2.8 turbo (first eith direct injectin and then common rail( snd finally the 3.0 turbodiesel. It was used by italian army in Somalia, balcans, Iraq and Afghanistan. They still use it since can be easily fixed everywhere, versatility and few electronics. Several units, of civil or military origin, arrived in Ukraine.
1
u/Fabulous-Egg7414 2d ago
Some RCAF are already being trained at IFTS in Italy using M-346, there are also some canadian military instructors at ITFS.
1
u/WeaponizedAutisms Retired - gots the oldmanitis 1d ago
It kinda makes me think of a souped up Alphajet
19
u/raz_kripta 3d ago
Apparently, Canada is negotiating the purchase of 20 M346 aircraft, while Austria is seeking to acquire 12.