Originally posted by DeV
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Defending the Irish airspace
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"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
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Originally posted by DeV View Post10 new pilots received there wings today. You know as well as I do why the class is so big and it isn't because there is spare aircrew in Baldonnel"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
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Originally posted by zone 1 View Postwhat is the point in having the radar if you cant go up and have look."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
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When talking about patroling our airspace I feel that we should have short/medium/long term aspirations. Doing a comparison with the RAF is not helpfull ...they are playing wargames and politics with Russia. At the moment we are incapable of doing much as we have no radar/interceptors and we don't know what's going on above our heads.
Any form of Radar is preferrable to none (even if it shared with our civilian agency to ease costs as others here have suggested) Most here seem to think a deal with Saab for a small number(4 perhaps)of older Saabs is doable. Others then pitch in with the impossibility of having a 24 hour instant reaction force and having a score of pilots permanently on call etc.
I think we should not be trying to match the military blocks in their posturing abilities. We should however be capable of actually displaying an actual presence up there. Get the aircraft and formulate our own (affordable) patrol policy. For want of something better we could call it "Russian Roulette". IF anyone is flying something or somewhere they shouldn't be they should have in the back of their minds the "possibility" that they might find a Grippen with a Sidewinder on their wingtip.
We need to be able to patrol our airspace....Not defend it from the US airforce. I think it would be a good idea to discuss what we can do that might be "affordable" and explained to the population as a national policing obligation as a non-aligned country.Last edited by Galloglass; 31 July 2016, 13:35.
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Ask the IAA, the primary radar operators.....the 9 pilots who got their wings are filling the shoes of the lot that have left. Air corps pilots often had as few as 300 hrs a year and they were glad to have it. If they are getting their 900 a year, then that's because of the Casa, the Defender and increased military heli tempo. It's no comparison with a fast jet pilot in a NATO country getting 300 hrs on a combat aircraft. In fact, in some countries, FJ pilots were getting 150 hrs a year (and less) because of budget cuts, on the primary fighters and filling in with trainer time to stay current. I recall one MiG 21 operator in post Warpac-days giving their pilots 40 hrs on type and the same on L-29/39 and NATO regarded them as unsafe and below combat readiness. So, if you dream about Irish Gripens, be prepared to fund 300 hrs a year on FJ and/or Hawk or L39 to stay up to par. Now, you are getting into silly money so it comes back to leasing in an AD package from Sweden or the UK. Don't forget we have no SAM or AAA defence of any decent standing, so new radar would simply be to tell us where the naughty people are.
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