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Potential roles of a supportable aircorps

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  • Potential roles of a supportable aircorps

    If the AC got it's Medium lift and light heli contracts (maybe even my own personal holy grail 8 of each) what would it's future roles be,
    Would a substantive TT and army co-op capability (see frank aikens airborne reservist post for details, or rather my response to said) see the AC's role in the defense of the state restored?
    Would a 16 strong helo fleet allow participation in peace support mission, this is the major issue as I think we can all agree that overseas service is the holy grail in obtaining funding for all three services.

    How much of the fleet would have to stay at home, for what? And how sustainable or rapid would a/c deployments be?
    "It is a general popular error to imagine that loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for it's welfare" Edmund Burke

  • #2
    Your obsession with eight, does that reflect the number of pints you had last night?

    If there were 8 mediums, six would go to sar, one shannon, one Dublin, one sligo, 1 Waterford, 2 in reserve/training/under repair. That leaves 2, and only one would be guaranted operational. That means a capability for lifting maybe a platoon, enough for Ranger training nad deployment but not much else. You'ld need 6 mediums availabe to have a force of 4 mediums deployed overseas, and even that would be a streatch. That my boy means the air corps needs at least 12 medium helicopters to commit four overseas and meet its on island roles.

    Utility; 8 barely covers on island civilian type tasks.

    Still, don't be too pessimistic about the future of heli-operations. If you go to the Department of defences web site you'll see that Smith has just opened a new building for no 3 wing. Now while some may rant on about the age of the AIII they have been extensively rebuild, and it is a case of talking about my old broom, the head of which I've only replaced five times. No point buying kit unless the infrastructure is there in place to absorb it. Nor would the Department spend money on a building unless they were going to have pilots flying helicpters.

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    • #3
      Don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs...
      Since the general plan of the government has been to buy 4 medium lift and 7 or 8 squirrel type helicopters even just to meet the basic SAR/atcp roles and generally continue the AC as a private ministerial junket.
      I simply refrained from mentioning the logistics of the situation since I was just trying to seduce people into the idea that an operable fleet was suportable...simple diseconomies of scale mean that providing even one helo stationed overseas would be a critical stretch on anything that the government deems acceptable in fleet size.
      But as my plan has always been, develop capabilities, demonstrate their use, build on them.
      "It is a general popular error to imagine that loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for it's welfare" Edmund Burke

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      • #4
        What is a supportable but worthwhile Military AC then?
        Could a system based on a 80-90% ML PDF fleet be built with utility roles being covered by part funded non-military operators using ex military aviators and crew?
        "It is a general popular error to imagine that loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for it's welfare" Edmund Burke

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