What Happened to Canada’s “Nuclear Capable” Avro CF-105 Arrow Fighter Jet?

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC) Canada’s decision to quickly halt production of its Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow fighter jet-interceptor in 1959 is still a mysterious and intensely debated topic, given that the aircraft ultimately ceased to exist in a manner that was entirely unanticipated.

Years ago following its inception, the Avro was widely regarded as the pride of Canada as it was ahead of its time in many key respects. The aircraft not only had a sleek-looking design but also, according to specs, the Avro could travel at nearly three times the speed of sound at altitudes up to 60,000 feet. The aircraft looked sleek and aerodynamic, and its shape appears to have influenced subsequent innovations over the years. The aircraft looked like a cutting edge striker bomber hybrid which was both large with a max take-off weight of 68,000 pounds.

As a Cold War, Post WWII aircraft, the Arrow was not only nuclear capable but also designed to track and “intercept” nuclear armed Russian aircraft looking to transit the Atlantic and potentially attack the US.

An essay on the Avro in 2013 in Global News captures the sentiment many Canadians have reportedly experienced over the years.

“The first flight of the Arrow should have been a crowning moment for the Canadian aerospace industry. Yet the plane was scrapped by the federal government just a few months later, in a decision that remains controversial to this day. For many Canadians, the Avro Arrow has come to symbolize both the potential, and the unfulfilled promise, of Canadian innovation,” the Global News essay writes.

The Avro Canada’s Arrow came to exist following results from a series of 1950s-studies focused on finding ways to build improved variants of the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck, a fighter plane which flew in the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1950s, 60s and 70s before retiring in 1981.