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Our current commitment to the RRF notwithstanding, should we develop an expeditionary force which would be capable of deploying with larger forces? This force would be completely armoured, mobile, etc.
ie it will be an army within an army, but one which the whole army should be...
As far as I know and this may not be correct anymore but isn't Ireland signed up to the United Nations stand by agreement, where as we agreed in a time of crisis for the United Nations that we would have 850 troops on a standy by agreement at any one time for peacekeeping and enforcement missions!
This is a seperate mission from the 850 troops that we have pledged to the European Rapid Reaction force , with our limited defence budget this could put a strain on the Defence Forces if both of these units had to be deployed at the same time?
Yooklid I totally agree with you that we should have a small expeditonary force ready to deploy with other larger forces.
Why our government never created such a unit is beyond me, considering the amount of Irish aid missions serving in Africa, Asia and beyond.
Did our goverment just wish to leave these people stranded and hope for the best in the case of extreme dangers to these people?
Or leave the job to the British the French the Belgians the Americans etc?
The Piranha's were no doubt a good buy for the army but there are other vehicles that could do the job of the Piranha for much cheaper, namely the Australian Bushmaster, the German Dingo, the South African Mamba etc.
The Australian army Bush Master is considered and used as an Armoured mobility vehicle by the Australian army for peace support and peace keeping missions.
It is crewed by two and can carry an infantry section of 8 and can be armed with a variety of weapon systems.
The German army dingo has a crew of five and is used by the Germans in the peace support role in Kosovo. It is armed with a variety of small arms weapons.
The South African Mamba is an APC by many countries including the United Nations it has a crew of two and can carry an infantry section of 9. It can be armed with a variety of different weapons.
I included the above vehicles for homeland defence and post advanced involvement in peace support and keeping missions, I still think that the ERRF should be equipped with the Piranha but perhaps the government and the Defence Forces should look for a cheaper option to equip the army with!
IF such a force is to be created the DF should be very careful that it does not absorb all the resources and let the rest of the army go to pot. It would be a go idea to rotate personel (PDF and RDF) through the unit every few years to stop it becoming an army within an army.
PS: The Australian Bushmaster project has run way over budget and the number of vehicles to be purchased has been cut back a bit. Probably best to let it settle down and iron out all the problems before buying any.
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