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A lot of that is getting old; King Airs (unless they are recent-build), P-3s, Hercs, 757s, A109s,etc,etc.....lots of the defence budget going on maintenance....overdependence on American kit...
theres chatter about the RNZAF replacing both its C-130's and P-3's with new build C-130's, or even a mix of C-130 and A400M's. the Aussies were pushing for them to buy C-17's for commonality, but there's only one left now, so i can't see them pumping for a single aircraft purchace.
the USAF however is believed to want to offload its original non-ER C-17's, but given the distance from NZ to anywhere, i doubt they'd ben in the market for a non-ER anything...
Im sure Boeing would be trying to push it's 737-based marpat/surveillance aircraft on them. 737s can fit into most of the small airports serving the many island nations that have traditional links to NZ.....apart from that, they could always expand into the kind of UN peacekeeping role that our lot has been doing for years. Why were we in East Timor, after all?......given the nature of disasters like the one that flattened Christchurch, they could probably use more helicopters, especially larger ones for medium and heavy lift. Seeing as they are already Kaman customers, a few of those Kaman K-max wouldn't go astray, especially as they are already in use as UAVs.
Im sure Boeing would be trying to push it's 737-based marpat/surveillance aircraft on them. 737s can fit into most of the small airports serving the many island nations that have traditional links to NZ...
depends if the NZ government wants to stay in the high end ASW game. if not, then the P-8 is wild overkill, and C-130 with a surface search radar, lots of pies and a pair of binoculars would be the way to go, particularly as you could use it for MPA one day, and airlift the next.
I'm sure keeping an eye on Chinese naval activity wouldn't be far from people's minds, not to mind illegal fishing, pollution spotting and airlift for friendly islands.
We often compare the army with the New Zealand army..... Here's what the RNZAF fleet looks like:
11 X T-6 trainers
4 X BKA200 King Air
6 X P-3 Orion
5 X C130 Hercules
2 X Boeing 757
5 X A109
5 X SH2G Seasprite
8 X NH90
I'm no expert, but is there no air-defence capability in there? Just in light of the discussion on these pages about a fighter requirement (or not) in Ireland.
'He died who loved to live,' they'll say,
'Unselfishly so we might have today!'
Like hell! He fought because he had to fight;
He died that's all. It was his unlucky night. http://www.salamanderoasis.org/poems...nnis/luck.html
I'm no expert, but is there no air-defence capability in there? Just in light of the discussion on these pages about a fighter requirement (or not) in Ireland.
A crusty government got rid of the RNZAF A4 Skyhawks and MB339s some years ago. They were to be replaced with F16 in the 1990s, but the order was cancelled.
For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.
I'm no expert, but is there no air-defence capability in there? Just in light of the discussion on these pages about a fighter requirement (or not) in Ireland.
Is it fair to say that until lately with the advent of Russian & Chinese carriers that NZ was largely out of range of potential hostile airfleets.
Is it fair to say that until lately with the advent of Russian & Chinese carriers that NZ was largely out of range of potential hostile airfleets.
pretty much - they looked at their defence posture and decided that the only threat was air policing, and that the likelyhood of a problem was dwarfed by the costs of defending against that problem, so made the decision to bin their already aging FJ fleet - not, you'll note, that an A-4 is the fastest, most QRA type FJ you could want...
the problem they've now got is that their corner of the world has got more exciting, but that there are political issues with joining their neighbours FJ fleet/infrastructure while the costs of going it alone is astronomical. the comparison is not unreasonable...
A lot of that is getting old; King Airs (unless they are recent-build), P-3s, Hercs, 757s, A109s,etc,etc.....lots of the defence budget going on maintenance....overdependence on American kit...
T-6 delivered 2014-15
BKA leased (second hand) since 2012
P3 delivered 1966 (1 in 1985) last upgraded in 80s
C130 delivered 1965-69 (upgraded in 2005)
757 delivered 2003 (upgraded 2008)
NZ arguably had a more benign environment than Ireland, given the geography. Still. Even fit them things change. Having binned their fast air and then cancelled the f16 order, they have now lost the institutional skills... All their fighter jocks got jobs in other air forces. The advent of a Chinese carrier carrier capacity will likely cause a rethink of needs, but now is added the problem of rebuilding a lost skill set.
Would it be fair to say that with the arrival of Beechcraft T-6C Texan II's the RNZAF is moving (back) towards a fast jet/air defence posture?
(e.g. pilots trained on the Texan II could progress to joint RAAF/RNZAF fast jet operations)
Is there much difference between the Texan II and the PC9?
The RNZAF lost all its fast jet pilots to the RAAF (Who needed them badly). It isn't easy to coax that experience home.
For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.
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