how does Irelands Military compare to a similar Nation?

magick

As in a Country thats roughy the size of Ireland, same income etc etc.....

Itchyrivers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_new_zealand

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Ireland

Judt

The Swedish military would be on a par if you only counted their regulars, wouldn't it? Something like 8,000 regular troops, then a load of reserves?

Still, all the "Let's buy cool stuff!" people might want to read:

New Zealand considers its own national defence needs to be modest, due to its geographical isolation and benign relationships with neighbours.

Wise people. I wonder what the craic is like with them? Small armies tend to have a life their own that's lost in the larger organisations. NZ is also a good example of stepping up to the plate when needed. If world war three broke out (err, and wasn't nuclear and over in 15 minutes of course) I'm sure we could do as we've done the past two times, and maybe even send troops with the tricolour proper on their shoulders. In the meantime, what do we need with MBT's and fighter jets that go zroom?

NZ Navy seems a good example of how to do it, though.

Steyr

Judt wrote:

In the meantime, what do we need with MBT's and fighter jets that go zroom?

Because we are a Soverign Nation and should be able to do it ourselves and not have to rely on others to do it for us.

BostonB

Steyr wrote:

Because we are a Soverign Nation and should be able to do it ourselves and not have to rely on others to do it for us.

We'll never be able to defend ourself against a large aggressor like UK or the US.

testicle

Steyr wrote:

Because we are a Soverign Nation and should be able to do it ourselves and not have to rely on others to do it for us.

Do what?

Mick86

Judt wrote:

Wise people.

Ireland isn't geographically isolated.

Judt wrote:

If world war three broke out (err, and wasn't nuclear and over in 15 minutes of course) I'm sure we could do as we've done the past two times, and maybe even send troops with the tricolour proper on their shoulders.

Last time we pretended it wasn't happening.

Judt wrote:

In the meantime, what do we need with MBT's and fighter jets that go zroom?

If you're sending troops to fight WW3 they might need these things.

BostonB wrote:

We'll never be able to defend ourself against a large aggressor like UK or the US.

We won't need to. In future Ireland is going to have to help defend Europe against the threat from North Africa and the ME in my opinion.

cold_filter

Mick86 wrote:

We won't need to. In future Ireland is going to have to help defend Europe against the threat from North Africa and the ME in my opinion.

Why north africa mick?

Steyr

testicle wrote:

Do what?

Defend the State..

Judt

Ireland isn't geographically isolated.

Neither is NZ, if you ask the Imperial Japanese Navy. But look at all the other people you have to crawl over to get to us. If they can beat France in six weeks and pull off Operation Sealine, 50,000 Irish home guards aren't going to do much. So realistically, we are.

Last time we pretended it wasn't happening.

Hence my joke about the tricolour patch. We sent plenty of lads to fight in the last war, just not technically fighting for Ireland.

Ireland keeps itself to itself on matters of defence, and even if we spent North Korean proportions of our budget on defence, we're still an island of 4 million next to countries of 60 odd million a piece. Luckily they're on our side. If they decide otherwise, there's SFA we're going to do about it. Therefore it's better to spend our money on attracting tourists who would be opposed to a war than on tanks to try and kill them when they get here.

BostonB

Mick86 wrote:

....
We won't need to. In future Ireland is going to have to help defend Europe against the threat from North Africa and the ME in my opinion.

This must from that new movie, celtic dawn...

testicle

BostonB wrote:

This must from that new movie, celtic dawn...

What's your vision of the future so?

BostonB

testicle wrote:

What's your vision of the future so?

Whats that nois...........

elvis jaffacake

cold_filter wrote:

Why north africa mick?

Well, the almost inevitable resource wars that are going to be coming along sooner rather then later, we're a bit spoiled in Europe, we have a temperate climate, plenty of fresh water, and food production ect ect, now imagine a world with even moderate global warming, and already apprearent lack of fresh water, and famines, we'll have 100's of millions of desperate people in deperate countries needing what we have, thats how wars start, listening to a programme that had climatologists on it yesterday, they were talking about that even with a pretty severe global warming, Europe would be a small area of temperate climate, we'll have to become the breadbasket for huge swaths of the world, plus there will be almost unimaginable amounts of climate refugees come in our direction, we'll be like a lifeboat for the planet, and thats just the global warming scenario, there's the "East vs West" one, the oil war's, the posible global power block wars', Eu vs who ever, ect The world is going top have a pretty crap 21st century:(

BostonB

They want our spuds?

elvis jaffacake

BostonB wrote:

They want our spuds?

Among other things;)

Stimpyone

battlefield 2142 so, although maybe not as buggy;)

arybvtcw0eolkf

BostonB wrote:

We'll never be able to defend ourself against a large aggressor like UK or the US.

The 'war of the flea' my friend.

BostonB

Mairt wrote:

The 'war of the flea' my friend.

Thats a completely different subject to putting an army in the field and buying MBT's and fighter jets.

Clare gunner

[

QUOTE=Judt]The Swedish military would be on a par if you only counted their regulars, wouldn't it? Something like 8,000 regular troops, then a load of reserves?

And a Hell of alot more equipment,mostly homegrown defence industry.

Still, all the "Let's buy cool stuff!" people might want to read:

Did indeed,didnt realise they have that many antique aircraft down there.And quite a larger airforce than what we have,in combat aircraft and SAR and support.So technically they have a larger airforce than we ever have and will ever have.


NZ Navy seems a good example of how to do it, though.[/QUOTE]
Hmm,five combat ships,and remainder support and/or SAR or exploration vessels.Be about right for here.

BostonB

Judt wrote:

The Swedish military would be on a par if you only counted their regulars, wouldn't it? Something like 8,000 regular troops, then a load of reserves?....

Remember their S-Tank?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stridsvagn_103

Most designs of the era used a crew of four, the S-tank would eliminate the loader and gunner. One of the three left was the rear driver, who was facing the rear of the tank equipped with a complete setup for driving. This allowed the tank to be driven "backwards" at the same speed as forwards, keeping its frontal armor pointed at the enemy.