Good but if you eliminate the little blurb about the ripples in the US dollar and you can fill two of three conditions instead of just one
I'm gonna go into more detail on the US in a minute. I'm just responding to the questions.
How big is the Canadian Military in this?
Somewhat bigger Army, much bigger Navy and Air Force, and as Hellyer never became defense minister and Trudeau had more on his plate to deal with, the names never changed, though Stanfield did eventually merge the base designations.
The Navy's surface fleet ballooned in the 1960s and 1970s. Four more examples of the Iroquois class were built (
Haida,
Cayuga,
Seneca and
Blackfoot) between 1973 and 1976. Canada bought eight examples of the Type 21 frigate, which became the Town class (
Victoria,
Battleford,
Chicoutimi,
Drumheller,
Edmundston,
Kitchener,
Sudbury and
Sherbrooke), and the four Kidd-class destroyers the Iranians ordered but never got, which became the River class (
Columbia,
Niagara,
Severn and
Chaudiere). The Rivers entered the fleet in 1975-78, the Rivers in 1981-82. At the end of the Cold War and with the arrival of the Halifax class frigates, the St. Laurent, Restigouche and Mackenzie class vessels were all decommissioned between 1990 and 1997, with the two Annapolis class helicopter destroyers surviving until 2002.
Sixteen Halifax class vessels were built between 1992 and 2003, carrying the names of the 12 OTL ones plus
Nassau,
Montego Bay,
Bridgetown and
San Fernando. Canada built three examples of the Protecteur class replenishment ship, With one (
Powerhorse) badly damaged by a fire in 1977, to the point of her being scrapped as a result of the damage. That and the age of the HMCS Provider meant the order of four Island class support ships (
Newfoundland,
Jamaica,
Manitoulin and
Trinidad) in 1981, the four vessels delivered in 1988-90.
Canada in this world did indeed get into the business of operating nuclear submarines, and based on the Rubis class but with Canadian nuclear reactors. Canada eventually purchased six nuclear submarines, with the first, HMCS
Rainbow, commissioned into the RCN in 1994, and the other five (
Niobe,
Aurora,
Patriot,
Warrior and
Acadia) delivered between 1995 and 2001. Complementing these was the four British Upholder class submarines, known as the Windsor class (
Windsor,
Corner Brook,
Nanaimo and
Edmonton) purchased in 2000 for nearly nothing ($300 million) and rebuilt by Saint John Shipbuilding with most of the systems of the Rainbow class, all four joining the fleet in 2002-03. The Royal Canadian Navy is currently looking at options with regards to upgraded air-warfare destroyers to replace the aging Iroquois and River class vessels, as well as potentially aircraft carriers.
The Air Force was about the same. Dief still kills the Avro Arrow, but the CF-101 doesn't last long in this world, replaced (along with remaining CF-100s) by a fleet of 114 F-4 Phantom IIs, delivered in 1973-75, all powered by Orenda-built J79 turbofans and refurbished from existing USAF aircraft by Canadair. The F-4s are purchased by Canada for a fraction of their new price. The CF-104 remains in service until 1985. The CF-104s repeated problems in Canadian service means the RCAF is hardly out of the fighter buying business for long, with the NFA program initiated in 1979. Yet again, Canada gets lucky from events, and buys Iran's fleet of 79 F-14 Tomcat fighters. The US here is very helpful, helping to finance the deal just to get the advanced air-defense fighters out of Khomeini's hands, and all are delivered in 1979-80. They had hardly been delivered when Iran discovered the involvement of Canadian diplomats in the escape of several US embassy personnel, and mere weeks after that, Saddam's invasion kicks off - both things leading to very frosty relations between the two countries for many years to come.
The NFA partially filled, Canada still purchases 84 CF-18s, with part of the deal also being good prices on any new tanker programs McDonnell Douglas won from the USAF, if Canada chose to buy. The deal had hardly been agreed to when the KC-10 entered USAF service - indeed, the US had told Canada specifically about this, and it is said that it was part of the reason the CF-18 had been picked in the first place. True to form, in 1985 Canada ordered six KC-10s from McDonnell Douglas. These aircraft were delivered in 1987-88, and six additional tankers were converted from civilian DC-10s in the mid-1990s. (At the same time, many of Canada's F-4s were rebuilt to allow them another 15 years or so of life.)
Canada, the UK, Japan and Australia are partners with Boeing in the development of a new AWACS aircraft in the late 1980s and 1990s as well, a need put forth because of the end of the production of the E-3 Sentry. The winning platform used a highly-advanced air-search and track radar developed by Mitsubishi, but Japan's laws with regards to sale of military gear were strict, and as a result companies in the respective nations - in Canada's case, ATI Technologies - made the radar systems under license from Mitsubishi. Canada bought six examples of these aircraft, delivered in 1993-95.
As of 2011, the RCAF's main 2000s project (the purchase of transport aircraft) has been completed, with seven C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and twenty-six C-130J Super Hercules aircraft delivered between 2004 and 2010. A competition to replace the F-4 and F-18 is underway and is one of the most lucrative fighter contracts in the world, with Canada looking for 158 aircraft and with a budget of $17.7 Billion for the purchase, with the contract competitors being the F-15E Strike Eagle, F/A-18 Super Hornet, Saab Gripen NG, Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon. Boeing is currently badgering the US Congress to allow exports of the F-22 Raptor, as Boeing has said they will export it to replace the interceptors used by Canada and Australia if they buy Super Hornets.
I love you so very much right now.
Thanks.
