Documents obtained by Global News in September indicated that the concept was briefly looked at by the government and dismissed.
CBC then reported MacKenzie’s comments that the federal government was too fast to write off the proposal to build a made-in-Canada military aircraft, which he says would be cheaper, faster and more efficient than the F-35. In an interview on CBC’s Power & Politics, MacKenzie acknowledged he first approached officials about a year ago about the plan by Bourdeau Industries, which has offices in Canada and the U.K.. Their plan was to redesign the Avro Arrow as an alternative to the F-35.
MacKenzie told CBC he personally delivered the proposal to the ministerial level and to the Prime Minister’s Office. The proposal was also provided to the DND and then incoming Chief of Defence Staff Lt.-Gen. Tom Lawson.
Not much has happened since….so designer Joe Green went to work and here are some of the results from his new website. Also check out out his video on the site:
http://www.superarrow.ca
Why did he go to all the trouble of doing this concept?
Here is what he says:
“My reasoning for doing this is simple. When Prime Minister Harper and cabinet simply made the call to sole source the F-35, and flatly turned down the rebuild of the Avro Arrow as Gen Lewis MacKenzie pitched, it sent a signal that he simply does not believe in Canadians that we can actually do design and build something like this. Notwithstanding its still superior to the F-35 in performance, range, speed and maneuverability, their argument was that it was too old. When the Conservatives took blow torches to the original Avro Arrow, they gutted the dreams of this nation and it seems we are reliving that again in todays times and I wanted to do my part by inspiring a nation.”
“A pound of inspiration is worth a million tonnes of negativity,” he added. “I wanted to dig deep and pull out of the ashes of abandoned dreams, a baby phoenix in the form of an idea, nurtured her and came up with this. In every regard, she’s superior to the F-35, F-18 and F-22, cheaper, faster and Canadian made….or could be. My goal is simple…I want to inspire every single Canadian with our new bird.”
He drew upon discussions with his father, a radar and GPS expert, talking about stealth, RADAR cross sections and reflections.
Like I mentioned, you can visit his new site, where you see a video and artists concepts of the aircraft (better than the Defence Watch format can display).
Some background on Mr. Green:
Joe Green is a professional Canadian artist and designer and proud to be an honourary member of the Third Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
He is a graduate of the prestigious Emily Carr University and hold a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts with a specialty in 3D Computer Animation, Visual Effects, Motion Capture and Fine Arts Painting. The flag featured in the video unveiling the Super Arrow is an 8′x4′ oil on canvas painting dedicated to the late Jack Layton for his service to Canada and now hangs in the House of Commons controlled Offices of the Leader of the Official Opposition. Green’s presented 158 of those prints on the 30th Anniversary of the signing of the Charter of Rights of Freedoms to 3 PPCLI in honour of 158 soldiers lost in Afghanistan, along with 65 to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Team Canada, various Olympians and other stellar Canadians as a way to acknowledge and inspire them.
Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen.com
Author: David Pugliese
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