Messages

181

Irish Air Corps / Let's talk about the navy again!

« on: October 20, 2004, 07:31:39 pm »

I hope the irony of on the one hand not wanting the RAF providing long range SAR off our coast, but at the same time wanting the EU to fund our nations future military purchases isnt lost on everyone.

Clan I hope I misunderstood your post - or are you saying you see nothing to show for all the years of EU spending in this country?

And finally lads dont worry about defence, judging by the fireworks and bangers going off outside my house - we'd scare any invaders away, especially with the Gardai's recent re-equipment with 40ks worth of the stuff '>

182

Irish Air Corps / Ireland's air defence -

« on: October 11, 2004, 03:23:04 pm »

Fighter aircraft give moral support to the crew? Excuse me? "Hi - if you stray off the co-ordinates we give you - we're going to turn you into a grease spot" ... ala the Israeli Air Force... maybe it was sarcasm...  '>

Anyway - you raise some good points, specificially - who makes the call... But while we continue to lack the means by which to intercept and the RAF are the ones patrolling our air space, then the decisions only going to become more complicated. Who makes the call, the RAF pilots / the Minister for Defence / the UK MoD / the Taoiseach?... All of this happening while the Aircrafts steaming East at 500mph... Who wants to shoot down an airliner? The potential ramifications as you again state could be massive...  which will again lead to delays... and potentially bigger disaster

I think this notion amongst Journos and members of the public that the PC-9's are able to defend our airspace against anything other than Cessna 172's needs to be dealt with as a matter of urgency. Who will vector PC-9s to an airliner that has switched off it's transponder? Has any of this even been considered by the Air Corps - specifically have a number of the aircraft been tasked with air defence? Because as far as I know theyre all assigned to the training wing. I've yet to hear of 2 armed PC-9's on 10 minute alert - the notion itself is laughable...

183

Irish Air Corps / Let's talk about the navy again!

« on: October 10, 2004, 10:54:53 pm »

Sorry but I cant see the logic behind refitting the Dauphins when the Air Corps are moving onto a new fleet of helicopters so soon. And why continue to operate the 20 year old Dauphins off a ship that was designed for a Lynx? Their original role so far as I understand was to aid the task of fisheries protection - that role has been consigned to history since the Casa's delivery. So once again why have them? For scenarios like the recent Submarine tradgedy? The Dauphins probably couldnt have even taken off from the deck, if the sea conditions were as bad as reported.

The Dauphin is too limited and the Eithne as far as I know cannot be upgraded to take anything more useful... If a new Helicopter carrying vessel was on the cards for the Navy then the Air Corps should logically go with the Blackhawk and put the Seahawk in service on any such future vessel. But like I said earlier - pie in the sky....

The Dauphins are history

184

Irish Air Corps / Let's talk about the navy again!

« on: October 10, 2004, 06:20:22 pm »

In my opinion this country is too small to have 2 different, poorly equipped military flying services.

Why divide the scant equipment and expertise? Being an Air Corps pilot is one of the most desirable jobs in this country for a lot of people - if anyone joining up today has a problem with serving at sea for a few weeks then they shouldnt be allowed enter service.

Anyway this is a pointless discussion - from what I've heard about the Eithne it's most likely no helicopter will ever fly from her again. And the likelyhood of another HPV entering service or a troop transport ship seems remote.

185

Irish Air Corps / Let's talk about the navy again!

« on: October 10, 2004, 05:25:37 pm »

The whole experiment with naval aviation failed, not so much due to the equipment, but because the pilots in the Air Corps didnt like being stuck on a ship for a few weeks. Refurbishing the Dauphins wouldnt deal with this underlying issue.

It might make a comeback in 10+ years time if a troop transport ship was procured - but that isn't very likely, I can't see a government having the resolve to buy a ship and kit it out adequately for overseas missions.

In the absense of medium lift helicopters and dedicated transport aircraft a transport ship is pie in the sky