I think your put downs are almost as useless as a squadron of Gripens.
A very good piece of advice and one I have already taken on board. Never worth engaging with a keyboard warrior !
Jonny, coming from you, I take that as a great compliment.
We'll let yourself, Larbre and Dohvolle play soldier and hope that sense prevails in Newbridge.
Still holding out for the F22/35 I see.
Is it a "Nirvana fallacy" to believe that an island that will drag itself kicking and screaming to a future defence budget of €1.5bn p/a should think of nothing else but an actual navy, and only then consider anything resembling an air combat arm?
Genuine question, i asked one of the anti state posters here before and he/she refused to answer. How do you deal with a civilian aircraft that wont answer comms and looks like it may crash in to a populated area.?
This is not a made up senerio as it has happened in several countries
We need the radar systems first but could probably get away with drones and some land based missile systems for less than the cost of a fleet of jets and support staff.
Leasing a regional airport to the French or Spanish would be better than the current situation.
You let pilots and air traffic controllers do as they are trained to do in the event of a loss in communications.
If the flight crew is out of action, the plane likely crashes. If it's hijacked, the plane crashes. Are you going to procure Gripens to shoot down civilian aircraft?
Please outline the scenario in which the involvement of a fighter jet has offered any utility whatsoever?
How many times in that situation has a military intervention lead to no deaths.
In both incidents military aircraft where sent to investage and where able to give real time information to civilain controllers
They still died, and tbh the military aircraft did nothing.
In both cases the aircraft crashed despite the military aircraft, killing everyone on board...
Lads, what is the point here? Do you have shares in Lockheed Martin.
There are currently two Russian submarines heading out into the Atlantic and our nearest neighbours are going to struggle to track them today and for the next few decades.
And where will Ireland be spending it's limited resources? To deal with the apparently existential risk posed by aeroplanes with dodgy radios...
Jesus Christ. A330s plowing into Croke Park.
Why can't we do all things? Did you misread LOA2 as a bump to €1.5trillion?
If the Commission is to be believed, they have considered your threat, the threat of someone flying an aircraft into Croke Park, over and above the threat that has materialised for this island in both of the last two wars.
If you want to talk about sovereignty, let's talk about our non existent merchant marine, the dwindling numbers of escorts amongst the powers in Europe who can't be at home and across the world at the same time, as well as the simple physics of an aircraft's endurance being measured in hours and a submarine's being measured in months, not to mention their payloads...
Your Commission has called for a "balanced" navy as part of LOA 3.
That's it. That's all they wrote and it's absolute nonsense, and Dohvolle, I wouldn't be surprised if you're one of the retired civil servants that wrote the report, or an existing civil servant that crafted its terms of reference.
So go ahead, stick me on your lengthy ignore list. The risk of harm to you from hijacked civilian airliners is a lot lower if you stick your head in the sand.
I'm not with Don. But you're not going to convince any one with such poor examples.
TBH the only solution some want is the top of the range one. Do every mission. Kinda kills any discussion of other possibilities.
I don't see "useless as a squadron of Gripens" anywhere in that...
Nope i have shares in Dassualt you can always be sure they are a safe bet as the french government will bail them out
Such a load of bloomin cafuffle about the suggestion that the country needs 6 to 12 modern jet aircraft. Seems like a given to me....and rather minimal at that. I'd say 16 to 24 fighters and at least one proper airlifted and a new government jet should be the order of the day, and let's have a half dozen light attack helicopters into the bargain.
So thats your answer, shoot them out of the sky? You know missiles cant look into the cockpit & report if all is ok or not..
The bottom line argument for acquiring a Squadron of modern jet fighter/interceptor aircraft is, that another sovereign Country currently performs the tasks of a peace time defensive air force on our behalf and in our airspace.
As a modern wealthy Republic, that should be simply unacceptable to any citizen of this nation who values the Constitutional and Sovereign integrity of that Republic.
Leave aside the rare civilian incidents, the Russian Federation is doing its best to drag all of Europe into a war against it and one of these days it might succeed. We have no military allies and that's fine, its the choice of the People, but the People must recognise that choice comes with consequences.
The western approaches are littered with Russian submarines, warships and long range reconnaissance bombers, looking to probe, distract, test and generally occupy NATO assets. Those games of cat and mouse could turn into a live fight any day and the least that is expected of us as that wealthy Western democracy on the open flank of Europe, is to be able to protect our own back yard. At the moment, we cannot.
The old paradigm which let us live under the passive umbrella of NATO defence, is gone. The age of naivety goes with it.
And its time a couple of posters on here copped themselves on to that.
What are we likely to do vs Russian submarines, warships since you brought it up.
Radar to identify, drones to verify, missiles to eliminate.
Jet fighter fleets are almost defunct now, unless you're a quasi-dictator seeking a photo op.
I'm assuming then, that you consider countries such as Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands fall into this category?
Since the airport at Galway has been closed for many years (apart from the local flying club), why not take it over as a West Coast base for the AC? They've used it in the past...
Why did you say it then?
My bad if so. I thought it's my quote of that is what you are replying to. I'm too jaded to go back and unravel that.
Which has the longest newest runway. I assume something with external tanks for a long intercept and escort will be heavy and need a long runway. Especially if they have a problem after takeoff and have to return max weight. You'd imagine knock and Shannon would be perfect. Knock less busy and remote would be my layman's choice.
Galway looks like it has a reasonable amount of infrastructure if the pics on their web page are anything to go by....t'was just a suggestion as it's not at all busy....
So what's the solution to non responsive airliner heading into populated areas. What do you do.
Interesting graphics in that link. Thanks
I think people are revisiting idea that more cheaper airframes might be more suitable than fewer extortionate aircraft. Especially with the on going problems.
Commonality with F16 is a big thing. Also the FA50 is closer to the original F16 concept than the latest F16.
The polish plans are interesting alright.
It's interesting to compare the FA50 vs Gripen.
Will we get more bang for buck with US gear or European one. You child I expect argue the case for either.
