There are a lot of misconceptions and bad info being posted here so I'll try to clear those up as my father is directly involved with these operations.
The Air Force has been running operations to prepare for the Olympics since the spring, the jets are just now being seen over Vancouver because prior to this the entire "system" under which they're now operting had to be assembled from scratch. My dad took part in the initial setup by flying low level highspeed operations to test the radar systems all over the country initially and now most recently in BC. The fighters are now here to test reaction times and so on. The F18's will be based at NUMEROUS airports across BC, and not just the lower mainland - most of which are classified for obvious reasons. I'd actually be surprised if there were any at Vancouver International as the local air traffic would make scrambling them more difficult than is necessary. On the burners they fly over 1100mph, so they're distance from the heart of Vancouver isn't a huge issue: they'll get there very quickly.
The Aurora's are submarine hunters and do a great deal of electronic warfare, which is probably why local GPS amongst other systems has been an issue as was posted. It's all testing and preparation for "the worst". If they wanted to the military could probably shut down almost every form of communication in Metro Vancouver, cell phones, internet, you name it. The Navy is also heavily involved and are ramping up their radar systems for the Olympics. My dad will be towing targets for them in the next few weeks to test their radars, cannons, and self-defense systems against both air targets and simulated cruise missles.
As for the F18 being a relic, you could call it that since the original design is over 20 years old but the jet is still one of the most dominant fighters in the air today. It's a multi-role fighter that can be heavily armed for air-to-air, air-to-ground, or both simultaneously. That versatility is why it's so popular, many different countries within NATO have the F18 as their primary fighter. The US Navy replaced the F14 Tomcat with the F18, and it's so versatile they will undoubtedly retire the A6 Intruder as well as it's simply obselete. The F18 can do it all, especially now that the Navy has the Super Hornet (30% bigger, more payload, more fuel). They're even looking into converting Super Hornets into mini-AWACS jets.
The F22 was kind of a stupid jet to build as the F35 was being designed pretty much in parallel with it. The Air Force pushed for the F22 to replace the F15 Eagle which it has now done but it's development is already terminated. The F35 is the new F18, it will do everything the F22 can but be more versatile thus the F22 being cancelled. Now someone posted about the Canadian Air Force being ghetto by only having standard F18's, no Super Hornet or F35's. Well here's why: the CF-18 is the absolute top-of-the-line standard sized F18. They've all been updated with the latest radars, weapons, electronics packages and so on. They've got "HUD-in-helmet" technology now that allows for the pilot to see the HUD on the inside of his visor so he'll always know what's going on with his systems. So if the pilot is looking over his shoulder and jigging around in a dogfight he'll always know his airspeed, altitude, what his weapon systems are doing, etc. That visor HUD automatically turns off if the pilot is looking straight through the normal HUD or down at his instruments, it's a slick system (but the lids cost $130,000+ each). And for all you movie buffs out there: Top Gun is a real elite fighter school and Canadians have won it a couple times in F18's against the F14/15/16. The Canadian Air Force is very capable :)
Instead of buying the Super Hornets, Canada decided to upgrade our F18's and wait for the F35. Yes, Canada has ordered them, and from what I've heard the number is pretty high. Australia will be one of the first to get the F35 as they haven't upgraded their F18's to the same level as Canada, and their F111 Ardvarks are TRULY ancient. Canada's in no rush because our jets are pretty much unchallenged in this region of the world with the exception of the United States. Russian fighters aren't going to be coming over the poles, though their revived Bear bombers have recently to test OUR reaction times and kinda say "Hey, look what we can do." Here's a picture of a Canadian F18 intercepting the old Cold War relic over the Arctic:
http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNew...U95_090227.jpg
The F35 will come in 3 configurations. 1 with the vertical take off and landing capability for the US Marines (a config called STOVL) to replace their F18's and A8 Harriers, 1 with beefed up landing gear + larger wing and tail control surfaces for the NAVY, and 1 just "standard" jet for the Air Force to replace the F16. Canada will be getting the standard configuration. The F35 could quite possibly be the last manned jet fighter ever built as remote technology like used with the Predator's evolves (one of the reasons the A10 Warthog was just retired).
JTF-2 (Canada's SEAL/SAS/Delta Force equivalent) will be all over the place too. These guys are no slouch's either and have performed some of the most dangerous missions in Afghanistan to date. They also hold the record for the longest single-shot sniper kill in history @ over 2km's. They were recently heralded by top US military officials for their actions in Afghanistan.
Hope that helps clear some things up and provide some insight into our military :)
