The Avro Arrow

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An Arrow Through The Heart Canada was in the market for a state or the art interceptor to combat the threat of Soviet bombers after World War II. The response was the Avro Arrow, which was developed from 1949 until its controversial cancellation in 1959. This cancellation was detrimental to Canada’s aeronautical industry as it led to the loss of a Canadian aircraft that was leaps and bounds ahead of its time. Furthermore, the Avro Arrow program was more cost effective that the Bomarc system at the time of cancellation. Lastly, the program’s closure cost 25, 000 people their jobs. Consequently the sudden cancellation of the Avro Arrow program by Diefenbaker’s government was not beneficial to Canada. The CF-105 Arrow was by far the most sophisticated aircraft of its time and would have beyond a doubt set the benchmark for combat planes to come. Despite the fact that the first Arrow was flown in 1957, it was so advanced that its performance was only outdone by the Russian MiG 26 years later in 1983. The Hughes Falcon weapons system was to be utilized by the Avro Arrow. The weapons used a system known as active homing radar, the capability to home in on a target without human intervention was very cutting edge technology for the time and this technology is still actively in use today. The Arrow also encompassed the most highly developed Automatic Flight Control Systems (AFCS) of the time, even though it was not intended for fly-by-wire implementation. “The Century fighters included the Voodoo and F-106. Even the analysis performed by the Americans themselves showed the Arrow was far more capable than these in terms of speed, altitude, and manoeuvrability” (Campagna, Requ 174). This proves that the Arrow was the most advanced plane on the market in multiple fields. The Arrows AFCS was safer to use than any other AFCS that had existed before, intended to be in use
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