Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

AC fighter aircraft

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • That got changed I think the first 250k of all exempt combined income is tax free.

    Comment


    • More fool the DoD if they listen to these fools

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Napp View Post
        More fool the DoD if they listen to these fools
        unfortunately it's not a case of the DoD listening to these shysters, but the Dod has to obey orders from the shysters these shysters have in their pockets....
        "We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey"
        Radio transmission, siege of Jadotville DR Congo. September 1961.
        Illegitimi non carborundum

        Comment


        • well its a fact that they do happen, prob not as much as they should!

          Comment


          • Posted last night about the A330 tanker & apparent scrambling of 4x Typhoons:




            Tanker MLAT track. That UK area of interest again.


            *edit well I got that wrong -
            instead of taking the usual route through the Caspian Sea and Iran, went westbound, skirted the airspaces of Norway and the UK, flew over the Atlantic until Gibraltair, entered the Mediterranean sea and flew eastbound towards Syria and then eastbound along the usual corridor, back to Russia.
            Last edited by pym; 20 November 2015, 17:27.

            Comment


            • and, they're baaaaaaaaack.

              two TU-160 BLACKJACK have been trolling up and down the English Channel today.

              RAF Typhoons have been scrambled to intercept two Russian bombers heading towards UK airspace, the Ministry of Defence says.


              and in case you're wondering how they got to the English Channel, well, they didn't fly over France...

              Comment


              • Originally posted by ropebag View Post
                and, they're baaaaaaaaack.

                two TU-160 BLACKJACK have been trolling up and down the English Channel today.

                RAF Typhoons have been scrambled to intercept two Russian bombers heading towards UK airspace, the Ministry of Defence says.


                and in case you're wondering how they got to the English Channel, well, they didn't fly over France...
                Strange for them to use Blackjacks, rather than bears, they don't exactly have a lot of them. Though I'm sure Claire, Mick and the rest of their shower would probably blame the US using Shannon for this as well...

                Comment


                • Where did they fly over Ropebag? Do we need fresh whitewash?

                  Comment


                  • EUR 280 million contract signed for eight M-346 Master



                    Alenia Aermacchi signs a EUR 280 million contract with Poland for eight M 346

                    Friday, February 28, 2014

                    Aermacchi, a Finmeccanica company, has signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence of Poland to supply eight M-346 Master.

                    The contract - signed after the aircraft was selected, as already announced - is worth EUR 280 million.

                    In addition to the eight aircraft, the provision also included logistic support, a training programme for pilots and engineers and ground-based training system with dedicated classroom and educational amterials.

                    Naval Open Source Intelligence

                    Economical, Twin Engined, faster than a Tu-95. The Light Combat variant would have to be, if the competition were held today, the leading contender for the Air Corp's next generation light intercept/air policing aircraft.

                    Finmeccanica officials say that, because the Master can be adapted to fire IRIS-T or Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, it can be viewed as a low-cost interceptor for missions where there is no need for heavier and more expensive jet fighters such as the F-16. This refers to air police missions for airspace violations by small private propeller-driven aircraft, helicopters or drones.

                    An interesting article here comparing and contrasting it against it's current closest rival, The single engined FA-50 Golden Eagle.

                    It's going to be very interesting when we see the USAF T-X contenders based on aircraft from Finmeccanica, Korea Aerospace, and Saab. Then we should have a much better idea of what the leading twin engined, transonic, economical Light Combat Aircraft of the next decade will look like.

                    Comment


                    • Slap on two drop tanks, add two IRIS-T's into the mix and then tell me its performance. Will the Polish aircraft be equipped with radar, if so - what type? Will they have RWR? Datalinks?

                      This conversation is regressing. The steps that need to be taken first have been discussed to death.

                      Comment


                      • Be Prepared

                        Originally posted by pym View Post
                        Slap on two drop tanks, add two IRIS-T's into the mix and then tell me its performance. Will the Polish aircraft be equipped with radar, if so - what type? Will they have RWR? Datalinks?

                        This conversation is regressing. The steps that need to be taken first have been discussed to death.
                        Sure Pym, initial steps are well known, need to be implemented, and to the best of my understanding are already in the initial stages of planning.

                        What happens then? I know it's almost all of 10 years away, but the PC-9s are up for replacement in the mid 20's, do you think it's too early to discuss?

                        If we just, for a moment, assume that we want to replace the PC-9s with a very similar aircraft, should it be a thoroughbred trainer like the PC-21 or, should it be a more robust light attack aircraft like the Embraer Super Tucano which would be far more deployable on a UN peace enforcement mission.

                        If the Russians continue to rattle everyone's cages, and or, God forbid there's a mass casualty aviation terror incident, then the AC may well be in the market for transonic light interceptors come 2025. I believe it's perfectly valid to take a look forward at what might be coming onto the market around then.

                        Even the old absolutism about needing 2 engines out over the ocean is up for grabs! There's an interesting Canadian perspective here. They couldn't be more aware of the fact that their oceans are even deadlier than ours if you end up in them unexpectedly and alone, and yet, they're up for discussing it. Personally I'd ask the guy or girl who we expect to end up doing the flying...

                        For all the looking I did, I couldn't find the famed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) spec for the 346's being proposed to replace Poland's 18 Su-22s. The 8 aircraft referred to previously are NOT these, they are instead destined to serve as advanced jet trainers.

                        The electronics package on board the M-346 is already pretty sophisticated, allowing the aircraft to simulate full spectrum cockpit operations of Typhoon, the Grippen, and perhaps soon the F-35. I imagine that integration of real-world systems would be off to a running start in that environment.

                        The most interesting thing, I thought, was the pricing. Looks like a minimum of Euro 500m for a dozen somewhat upgraded M-346s would be ball-park.

                        Pym's points also stress the relevance of, at least under exercise conditions, regional flight deployments and the capacity, however basic, for some form of air-to-air refueling whether contracted to Omega or via the new medium transport aircraft.

                        Perhaps all the contenders for the USAF T-X program may yet be developed into Light Combat Aircraft. If you're thinking that the ideal aircraft for the job could be a blend of the 346 and the Grippen, then perhaps Saab will be in a position to offer us exactly that come 2025.

                        In the end, it's going to be a political decision, and will be made on political priorities. The defence utility of all defence assets is of course the primary criteria upon which such decisions should be made but, to be realistic, you have to accept that their foreign policy utility is also extremely relevant. Those of a certain vintage will remember that the state had to be embarrassed into the programme that ultimately led to the purchase of the Piranha fleet when Balkan peacekeeping offers were rejected because of the dire condition of the Irish army's vehicles and equipment.

                        Deployability and utility in a peacekeeping or peace-enforcement environment is what will swing the vote of the Department of Foreign Affairs. However much we may want our national ethic to change, and perhaps it will over the coming decades, we are not yet Sweden. We are not even yet Finland or Austria. Whatever suitable aircraft may be available come 2025, the Air Corps is going to have to construct their recommendation to the Government with one eye on national defence, and one eye on international prestige. It would be very naive of Baldonnell to confuse the form of prestige the government has in mind, with the form that comes from having 12 shiny birds sitting on the tarmac, in splendid isolation.
                        Last edited by The Usual Suspect; 25 April 2016, 04:58.

                        Comment


                        • @the usual suspect, asking just the pilots will confine you to one opinion. There's a hell of a lot more people involved in the equation when in comes to operating any aircraft and the pilot is only one of them....the State is perfectly capable of buying expensive combat aircraft (same price as an A330 and we, the State, have had them for years, courtesy of the former State airline. Seven, at a book price of Eu120m a pop. I'm not privy to the actual running costs but it can be eyewatering and commercial airliners are more user-friendly to own than combat aircraft. Before anyone rushes to say, we need fighters NOW!, they need to be shown real-world costs.....the State does not want proper combat aircraft. It never has and never will, unless the Russians appear in force on Kildare Street, at which point it will be too late.

                          Comment


                          • @GTTC On the issue of the 'fighters NOW!' argument, I couldn't be in stronger agreement with you. An equivalent Naval proposition would be that we should fit ASROC to all our ships and start banging away with active sonar on the porcupine bank like a 4 year old with a tin drum. And in fairness the threat of a potential environmental catastrophe, posed by the presumed number of nuclear powered vessels, of all nations, lurking in our littoral, is orders of magnitude higher than the prospect of Spetznaz dining in Buswells.

                            As it stands, for a comparable expense, the Navy probably have a better chance of acquiring 4 littoral submarines than the Air Corps do of getting a squadron of Grippens.

                            The recent Bear-Scares notwithstanding, the assumption that any military requirement is self-evident and beyond the need for careful debate is is just not going to, eh, fly. The groundwork will have to be laid very carefully and very systematically to prepare the way for the acquisition of the state's first fast jet since the vampire. The reality is that in the purchasing process for major assets the pecking order runs Department of Finance, Foreign Affairs and then Defence. Foreign affairs have every incentive to fulfill our good neighbor obligation to move in the direction of 2% defence spending.

                            The key to success will be to move prospective assets up the peacekeeping/peace-enforcement wish list at the department of Foreign Affairs.

                            In this context the prospect of a rugged, deployable, low cost per flying hour light combat aircraft emerging from the T-X programme should gladden the heart of all aerosexuals. It is likely to represent the best chance of a fast jet acquisition for another generation.

                            On the twin/single engine issue, my point is that if we're going to send someones' son or daughter 500 nm offshore on a Combat Air Patrol, we had better be very comfortable about the decision that led to the number of engines we have placed under their arse.

                            Comment


                            • I think, in the Don, at least, the twin-engine thing has already been decided in favour of twins. The Cessna replacement could be a twin turbine or diesel, (cue DA42 surveillance aircraft) so if a warry PC-9 replacement is bought, in 2020, it might be a twin (at which point second-hand 346s would be available). But, PC-21s will also be plentiful, so I'd see a buy of a few of those down the track... For going abroad, you're in helicopter country, as the Govt will not send an armed fixed wing aircraft abroad. Also, the 139s and 135s are chewing up hours fast, too, so their replacement will have to be thought about....i totally agree with what you say about the hierarchy. Any military officer who thinks that he has the power and influence to alter the opinion of the Minister for Finance and his civil servants is on a loser.

                              regards
                              GttC

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by The Usual Suspect View Post
                                The key to success will be to move prospective assets up the peacekeeping/peace-enforcement wish list at the department of Foreign Affairs....
                                i'm in the strongest agreement with you, but if you want to win points at a European level, sending half-a-dozen worked over F-5/Hawk/T-50/whatever to do overwatch isn't the way to do it - Europe has a very great number of Mirage/Typhoon/F-16's etc.. that will do the job better. you'd be siloing a huge proportion of the DF budget on a capability that no one else in Europe is going to be interested in and that had a very limited role within Defence. a bit like buying a Ford Focus Estate when all of your friends have got L200's and Hilux...

                                if you want to make friends and influence people, invest in both sovereign and multi-lateral tactical and strategic airlift (which means buy your own C-130's and join the NATO Airlift programmes..), and buy, and deploy, your own medium/heavy lift helicopters.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X