RAAF purchases Hornets

[tsv]

In another sickening display of incompetence by the Australian Department of Defence they have announced they are acquiring 24 F/A 18F Superhornets. Seriously. WTF?

At a time when our neighbours are getting SU-30's we go with outdated rubbish that has zero chances in air to air combat. What are we going to do - sting them to death?

They should have told the US straight out that we want the Raptor and if you don't sell it to us we'll buy the Euro Fighter. The stupidity of these idiots defies belief.

[YYZPICS]

Arent they part of the F-35 program?

[Top_Gun]

But they need something because their F-111's are so dated they won't be flying by the time they get their F-35s.

How is the Super Hornet "outdated rubbish", they are still building them and I haven't heard of one being shot down.

Is there some war the Australia plans to be in that they need the Raptor?

[Stephen Toernblom]

Is there some war the Australia plans to be in that they need the Raptor?

Hahaha....that is a good question!

[Asmir Hamidovic]

I think the F-18 is a good choise for Australia.

[Greg Wilson]

I think the F-18 is a good choise for Australia.

…do we get reasons for that blanket statement?

In another sickening display of incompetence by the Australian Department of Defence they have announced they are acquiring 24 F/A 18F Superhornets. Seriously. WTF?..............................................................
.

Because the US tells us to and we believe we must obey. We don’t have the balls to tell the US we are an ally but back off. Remember except for a few F/A-18’s deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq a couple of trips by our navy and some Blackhawks in Afghanistan, our military hardware has been used for training and playing with. We only need to look at the Seasprite and M1A1 Abrams, just two decisions that were forced on us/made…..that are a joke. Even the leasing of the F-4 Phantom II while we were being pissed around with the F 111 debacle was at least a fairer deal than this latest one.
Why order 24, ..and we are yet to be advised of delivery schedule. If someone wants to get really evil with us then 24 won’t help…4 or 6 for training and as a form of deterrent is plenty. Now it is understandable that 24 are needed to recruit, train, and retain pilots and ground crew, but seeing that is main use of our attack aircraft, and we are going to order 24, why not give the F-35 program the big miss……new technology and extended lead times will always give these problems.The desire for commonality could be achieved by training in the USA.
I have yet to be convinced Australia can utilise 3(+1) C-17’s.
The might of the US military thrown at Iraq did not work (again) and now Australia goes (is led) down the same path. Our job in Iraq and Afghanistan is and always will be restricted because of manpower, budget etc. We are better off equipping (and recruiting decent numbers) in a more specialised role…..I mean how successful is our SAS.
The purchase of any of this equipment hardly helps us with problems closer to home.

[Asmir Hamidovic]

Australia is not in war with anybody they dont have soldires in IRAQ and they havent been in any conflicts.Why would you want to buy one of the most exspensive military aircraft the F-22,there is no need for it.That is where the F-18 come in,Australia just needs some planes if a conflict was to occur with them and some othere country.That is why i think they baught 24 F-18.

[Alex - Spot-This !]

F-18 doesn't seem to be a bad choice for me neither. As Asmir said why buy "THE" best ac (well at least the most expensive one) when you have no reason to go to war ? And F/A-18F are quiet modern and efficient for the needs of the Royal Australian AF.

[YYZPICS]

The super hornet is the most maneuverable aircraft out there without the use of thrust vectoring, who wouldnt want it??

[tsv]

Australia is not in war with anybody they dont have soldires in IRAQ and they havent been in any conflicts.Why would you want to buy one of the most exspensive military aircraft the F-22,there is no need for it.That is where the F-18 come in,Australia just needs some planes if a conflict was to occur with them and some othere country.That is why i think they baught 24 F-18.

Actually we do have soldiers in Iraq. But not fighter a/c.

F-18 doesn't seem to be a bad choice for me neither. As Asmir said why buy "THE" best ac (well at least the most expensive one) when you have no reason to go to war ? And F/A-18F are quiet modern and efficient for the needs of the Royal Australian AF.

We don't have any reason to go to war but surely the idea of having defence forces is to give yourself the ability to defend to yourself if someone decides to go to war with you. Look at the equipment our neighbours have;

India - SU30's plus MIGS and about to order 126 more modern fighters
China - Lots of SU30's plus indigenous fighters
Malyasia - SU30's
Indonesia - SU30's
Pakistan - ? F-16s?

So who are we going to deter? I think we've got New Zealand covered plus Papua New Guinea and Fiji but god help us if anyone else decides to scrap.

There's just no point coming second in a dogfight (or a war). If we're going to have a defence force it may as well be a capable one. Which is why the Eurofighter would have been a more useful choice IMHO.

[Asmir Hamidovic]

How many soldires do you guys have over there?

[Greg Wilson]

How many soldires do you guys have over there?

Operation Catalyst..Iraq 1450.
Operation Slipper... Afghanistan .....550

[uy707]

Should I would be an Australian tax payer, I would question myself about the ADD. Owing to the many missions entrusted to the RAAF,
- prevention, including permanant deployments to Butterworth/Malaysia
- ANZAC air defense + PNG especially since the RNZAF parted with the Skyhawks while retaining the option not to replace them and appoint the RAAF to do the job.
- probably more to come
the latter should have conducted the deal as they will be the final user.
Going along with tsv as Australia should have made some arm-twisting.
Alain

[Showtime100]

What are we going to do - sting them to death?.

LOL....they would probably screw that up anyway. Be happy we are selling you the Hornet, now learn to fly it and you'll be fine.

They should have told the US straight out that we want the Raptor and if you don't sell it to us we'll buy the Euro Fighter.

I'm sure that would work, why don't you tell someone?

[Greg Wilson]

LOL....they would probably screw that up anyway. Be happy we are selling you the Hornet, now learn to fly it and you'll be fine.

A couple of million tons of bombs, cruise missiles, napalm, agent orange and whatever else is big and beautiful hasn’t been that successful for you over the past 40 years, so don’t go worrying yourself about Australia mate.