How much would it cost?

[ICUN]

How much would it cost in initial outlay for the Air Corps to get some fighter/interceptor jets.....F-16's or some reasonable alternative?

[Big Al]

enough cash to buy the outer hebridies.

[Goldie fish]

Lets close down the Schools and Hospitals. That should fund it..however in 10 years time there will be nobody alive or smart enough to fly them.

[ICUN]

I am just asking cos someone else asked me did I know....I am not saying we should go and buy a heap of F16's at the expense of schools etc.

Anyone got a source where I could look it up?

[Come-quickly]

About 450million if youre talking an operational (worthwhile) force of F-16 type aircraft plus minimal support infrastructure, about 200million for a smaller supportable force of F-5/M346 type aircraft for nominal air defence, training and the maintenance of a combat airforce culture in the event we ever have to do a Finland and buy top of the line fighters to defend our 5 million people.
Finland operates 56 F-18C and 7 F-18D (their hornets have no strik/CAS role at present although it is being considered) and 52 Hawk 51, which is use for LIFT and CAS aong other things.
On the other hand Finland has a recent history of invasion and splendid health, education and social welfare system.

http://<br /> <a href="http://www.m...a03_en.pdf</a>

[ICUN]

How many f-16's would 450 million get us?

[Come-quickly]

Sorry that should have been 850million for 24, I forgot to calculate for maintenance rotations etc

[paul g]

if needs be, the cash could be found somewhere, and not necessarily from health and education, but the ultimate question would be how and where would we use them, how they would fit into the wider scheme of defence planning, and how would they be utilised, given that there is a minimal threat of anybody actually being able to bomb us with fighter aircraft.

[Joey D]

Does Finland not have oil and gas fields just like Norway? Perhaps this is the reason that they have money to spend.

[ICUN]

What would be a valid alternative to F-16's?

By the way, some of the people here - http://www.p45rant.com/boards/showth...297#post920297 - think ireland doesn't need a Defence Forces at all never mind jets.....join in the discussion and set them straight :-patriot:

[Come-quickly]

ICUN, as wonderful as fighters would be think of all the other things that could be achieved by spending 850m on the DF as a whole, the IAC could have enough medium lift helicopters to provide comprehensive SAR/MPA coverage and provide airlift for the RRF BN, Fixed wing transports could be bought, the NS could replace some of the older PVs and buy a sealift vessel, the army could be brought as close to operational standards as is possible.
I'd rather have all that than fighters that the govt would be afraid to use.

[ICUN]

I agree Come-quickly....I just wanted to get an idea of a price to tell some people who dont think we should have a Defence Force at all, never mind jets.

I would rather have all the more practical stuff first but i am just thinking that jets should be on the lsit of stuff we need, even only a few. I agree that medium lift choppers are a priority for the Air Corps though above anything else.

[Come-quickly]

The problem is that we would be making a raw investment, where as other countries are generally approaching defense issues from the POV of existing infrastructure and missions we have none.
We aren't replacing something, people have no idea what such equipment serves to do.

I glanced over that other board I'm going to have enough hassle when Strummer gets all outraged at me, IMHO your best course of action is to tell them they don't deserve to be served or defended but the least the ego-hodiecentric bastards could do is allow those who are willing to deploy properly equipped forces to help people who really need to be helped around the world.

[Fox]

F-16'S ALONE. IE JUST THE JETS IM TALKIN ABOUT

F-16'S Are going for 1mil a pop in Mojave USA. In fact since the USAF stopped using the F-111 Aardvark all the rest of the "varks" have been sent to Mojave where they are kept in such a condition that they are readily available as spare parts for the RAAF or for frontline service with the RAAF.

[ICUN]

How come they are so cheap?