Fighter jets for the Air Corps?

You are preaching to people with war fantasies that have no notion, about defense, they are talking about defending Ireland with a few F-15 with no concept of the repair cost and upkeep of these machines, couldn't have put it better a vanity project sums it up nicely.

Serious difficulty here understanding that we have no real enemies, and any of the nations that could realistically invade us if they decided to would do so with relative ease and a few F-15's and our DF wouldn't last pissing time, its utterly delusional.

I always have to laugh at these posts, the over estimation of our DF is by some is boarding on delusional they some how believe that in a full blown conflict with a modernized military that the DF will have a chance is a muzzle to muzzle fight, its absolutely laughable, A) the circumstances for us to have a full fledged military force doesn't exist and B) the capacity to have one doesn't either from a financial stand point an industry stand point and a manpower stand point.

The DF will never be able to stand up to a a military force capable of invading us alone, ever... end of story they would be obliterated.... And thats just reality not hate its a fact.

I quoted from a website but it appears to be incorrect, I found it strange that it stated 2014 should’ve really checked on my part really.

I was scrolling through etenders and nothing appears to be even in the pipeline for the replacement so no RFI has been done yet I assume.

Generally it is always something from Babcock to be fair. I would love to us invest in safehaven marine, they have a serious record of producing fast boats something.

Oh the troll haha I’m old enough for people like that sure.

Regarding aircraft is there any news on the FCAS project between France and Germany or is that still stalled?

So many errors with that post.

Obviously some complete gobshites know more about Irelands Defence Forces & future military needs than a commission composed of defence experts from home & overseas, many with extensive military experience & knowledge.

Why shouldn't Ireland be comparable to similar nations in terms of population & national income in Europe in military defence spending.

Why shouldn't Ireland have the means to defence it's hard won independence, you'd think that some didn't notice the historical lesson on how Ireland's independence actually came about. It certainly wasn't won by pacifists!

The Defence Commission report is calling for nothing more than other nations in Europe have, it doesn't mention Aircraft Carriers & a fleet of nuclear missile submarines, nor a force of F-35 stealth bombers. It just calls for an adequate defence force for the nation including proper maritime patrol of the the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Atlantic Ocean, & the future ongoing implementation of United Nations peacekeeping missions.

Those that want the Defence Forces further reduced & even abolished are nothing but crazy pacifists or hard left Putinist apologists. A tiny minority with no serious political base, nor mandate from the Irish people.

The amount of people who think we're a nation of flying columns just waiting to be unleashed is scary. Some people have spent too much time watching "the wind that shakes the barley" or "Michael Collins" and not enough time in the real world.

If a well trained professional army is not going to be able to defend us, what hope has a bunch of untrained wannabes?

Clearly a case of great minds thinking alike so

The "untrained wannabes" are the reason there is a DF in the first place they were the ones that fought a war and won independence...

I think the Netflix has gone to the heads of the DF enthusiasts on here dreaming of black hawks and aircraft carriers defending auld Eire from imaginary attacks 🤣🤣

Stay ready lads!! There's luggage in Dublin airport that needs shifting and there could be a flood with all this climate change💪💪 the f-16s will come in handy 🤣

Without a modern fighter we rely on the RAF to defend our airspace so I take it that's your definition of fulfilling a role.

A surprising number were actually trained by the British army and had fought in WWI so not exactly untrained.

Circumstances are very different today. Hard to imagine an occupying force would be as restrained as the British were.

But the reality is no matter what anyone here says you are not going to change your mind so tbh what's the point in trying to debate (not that you are debating) with you?

"Those that want the Defence Forces further reduced & even abolished are nothing but crazy pacifists or hard left Putinist apologists. A tiny minority with no serious political base, nor mandate from the Irish people."

I should have also added the other hard left faction that despise & undermine the Irish Defence Forces at every opportunity, whilst many of this faction claim to be patriots & republicans, their leadership & philosophy still answer to Moscow & Beijing, not Ireland, just like the others mentioned above.

This other faction will even claim that we don't need the Irish Defence Forces, that there is another "Óglaigh na hÉireann" who will "defend" Ireland, so we don't need the Defence Forces "cause we've got the 'Ra!" whilst they sit on their barstools!

SF is very popular party at present, we still don't have an honest policy on what will happen to the Irish Defence Forces if they actually form a government, because they keep their plans on this issue hidden from the Irish electorate. Recently they removed Pro Russia propaganda from their website after the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Would SF implement the Defence Commission report? Probably not, but they won't admit that at present, could they even downgrade the defence forces even further than previous governments have done over the decades, it is certainly a possibility.

I call those who undermine the defence of the nation traitors if that what they wish to further achieve.

You need to take a breath bud, you're talking as if you are delivering a speech to the nation, relax we aren't being invaded anytime soon. The people you are talking about just don't want an unnecessarily heavily militarized state because some pro DF fanatic is paranoid we are about to be invaded, they just want that money spent on more necessary stuff all be it those things might not be as fancy as F-16's.

1)Exactly what I said, and it’s not even that, the same people seem to forget that compared to other suppression campaigns of the British Empire they were “restrained” in the War of Independence, the idea that a modern strategy should start with no defence capability but insurgent forces is beyond laughable, and that thinking is pretty much why the DF is as limited as it is.

2)Circumstances are very different today. Hard to imagine an occupying force would be as restrained as the British were.

3)We're currently lucky in our geographic position ...it's not really in anyone intrest to invade us ..but if we ever need an airforce in a hurry (as opposed to an air corp ) it'll be hard to get one from an almost standing start ... So a squadron of some light fighter won't make us into some massive military force pushing our weight around - but it's a good start , it'd mean we could police our own eez , train with the Brits ,the french , the norweigans or the swedes ... Which makes it all the less likely that an air-force would be needed in anger

4)Ireland as a country is from a military perspective of interest during a war, especially if it involves some kind of East-West conflict. The same applies for Iceland, or Newfoundland ( which wasn't part of Canada during WW2 and the Americans had bases there )

And that's not quoting the ones where invasion is implied as a reason for the pro DF war fantasists, reading the drivel from people like you im glad we spend **** all on the DF i hope we spend less and allocate the money to housing or other actual useful stuff rather than jets to appease gobshites like yourself who live paranoid.

Do ye understand that? that's why your not getting the money end of”

This will result in the Defence budget rising from €1.1 billion to €1.5 billion the largest increase in Defence funding in the history of the State

I said I was done with you previously but you’ve just proven you have no idea what you’re talking about.

Now I’m done with you, End Off😂

I think the Turks are really pushing the German/French on the project as they have a nato alley that is progressing there project in quick time on the TF-X. Both projects were established at the same time.

ah! that shows my knowledge of maritime (lack off) craft to a tee, I though safehaven did a full suite of vessels.

I actually never looked at it that way to be honest I forgot turkey was booted from the project. Just realising now, the TF-X is a mirror image for the South Korean KF-21. I would agree with your opinion on it.

Hopefully that tempest programme is sped up -as it looks like a remarkable aircraft from the design