Canadians jets wouldn't catch on due the lobbying power of the USA. The American empire is justified by military spending afterall.
The Arrow was dumb though. The point of NATO is that weapons are standardized to reduce costs and increase effectiveness. Canada having its own jet was needless.
Agree with the first part, not the second.
The Arrow WAS going to use standard avionics and weapons systems, it was to be armed with first generation sidewinder heat-seekers and a standard cannon.
Canada is an enormous country, and part of it's commitment to NATO and NORAD was first-line strike discovery and interdiction from over the north pole, the shortest route from the Soviet Union to the USA as the missile flies.
Canada fulfilled it's commitment with the DEW line (Distant Early Warning) of radar stations across the arctic, and also was to have interceptors ready to go at all times to stop bombers and missiles.
No existing warplanes had the high speed and long range needed to fulfill this role adequately, and nothing was in the pipeline that could either.
Thus A.V. Roe, who already built licensed models of U.S. and British warplanes for Canada stepped in with a plan for a high speed lightweight interceptor with an all new titanium-based structure (never successfully used until the Arrow, that's why the Soviets injected spies into the project) that could cover thousands of miles at high mach speed without refueling.
It's a damn good thing real war never happened between the 'superpowers' since due to American lobbying and soviet spying (much of the stolen titanium tech went into the MiG 25 which was like a crippled bastard nephew of the Arrow) the loss of the Arrow severely reduced the quality and speed of Canada's ability to intercept an attack. The Bowmarc was useless, that's why America pushed it off onto Canada, and the Starfighters were fast but had abysmal range and handling at high speed, as well as a tiny weapons load.
