The Collapse Of The Avro Arrow

February 20th, 1959 when Canadian Prime Minister ordered the cancellation of the production of the CF-105 (official name of the avro arrow). The CF-105 was originally designed as a long-range interceptor, meant to meet and destroy Soviet bombers. The hypersonic fighter was on the cutting edge of aerospace technology at the time: it could reach a speed nearly three times the speed of sound, travelling at an altitude of 60,000 feet. The rollout of the first CF-105, marked as RL201, took place on 4 October 1957. The company had planned to capitalize on the event, inviting more than 13,000 guests to the occasion. Unfortunately for Avro, the media and public attention for the Arrow rollout was dwarfed by the launch of Sputnik the same day. That
on Oct. 4, 1957. A huge crowd is on hand to marvel at the sleek white craft. But the Arrow's timing turns out to be disastrous: the Soviet Union launches the Sputnik satellite the same day, diverting attention from the Arrow and prompting some Canadians to begin rethinking the country's approach to strategic defence. Avro Canada lost some of its support from the government as well as some of its funding since many Canadians had no idea of what the CF-105 was capable of. Sputnik was the world's first artificial satellite. It was the size of a basketball and weighed 83 kilograms. While it didn't really "do" anything other than beep, it caught the West off guard. Many feared the Soviets could use the same rocket technology to launch ballistic missiles carrying nuclear weapons from Europe to North America. Sputnik began the space race and led directly to the creation of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). At the unveiling of the Arrow, Defence Minister George Pearkes said that although we are entering the missile age, the era of manned aircraft was not over. He said that aircraft and missiles complement each other, and aircraft have the advantage of introducing human judgement into battle. Unlike missiles, aircraft can turn back. Later, Pearkes was instrumental in the cancellation of the Arrow
An alternative weapon, the Bomarc, could do the same job at a much lower cost to Canada. On August 28th, 1958 the Hon. George Pearkes, Minister of Defence, presented Cabinet with the Bomarc anti-aircraft missile proposal from the U.S. This was accepted as a viable substitute for the Arrow at a very much lower cost to Canada. At that time, Pearkes recommended the cancellation of the Arrow program. The Bomarc was a ground-launched, winged missile that homed in on a radar signal bounced off an incoming enemy. It was an anti- aircraft, not an anti-missile weapon as some members of Cabinet seemed to believe. Its range and performance were roughly the same as the Arrow's. The complete weapons system consisted of the Bomarc with a nuclear warhead and a ground radar and communications system. There were many different options for protecting against missiles that countries can choose, the Avro Arrow wasn’t worth its price when you compared it to how many times it would be used. The program was too costly, this appears to have been the major excuse for the cancellation. As described above, the Arrow was an economically efficient design. It was not a cheap aircraft, but then very little modern military hardware is cheap. Diefenbaker's claim was that the Arrow program would have cost two billion dollars by 1964 for 169 aircraft or 12 million for each aircraft and