Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates

John Newman

The Bunker Group
Would they even pass FMS, Almost certainly would change the balance of power in the region.
Mate, yes I can see you stuffed up the quotes (and you are not alone the last few days as GF as been saying to everyone).

Just make sure when you reply to a post that you don't delete the 'start' and especially the 'end' quote of the comment.

Make sure your comment is 'after' the 'end' quote.

And if you do 'stuff up', no prob, just hit the edit button and fix it up and save.

You can of course edit the person's comment that you are replying to, especially for relevance reasons, but again, just double check the start and end quotes of the comment, ok?

And one final point, and just a polite reminder, 'no' one liners ok? It's against the Forum Rules.

Thanks,
 
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Redlands18

Well-Known Member
Mate, yes I can see you stuffed up the quotes (and you are not alone the last few days as GF as been saying to everyone).

Just make sure when you reply to a post that you don't delete the 'start' and especially the 'end' quote of the comment.

Make sure your comment is 'after' the 'end' quote.

You can of course edit the person's comment that you are replying to, especially for relevance reasons, but again, just double check the start and end quotes of the comment, ok?

And one final point, and just a polite reminder, 'no' one liners ok? It's against the Forum Rules.

Thanks,
Thanks John hopefully I've got it right this time and GF my apologies for stuffing you about and i will watch the length of my posts. The talk about B-21 has got me wondering about what would constitute a shift in the balance of power in the region, would we struggle to get 300 F-35s under a FMS deal. I know we don't have such a requirement but i was just wondering how far FMS would stretch
 

John Newman

The Bunker Group
Thanks John hopefully I've got it right this time and GF my apologies for stuffing you about and i will watch the length of my posts. The talk about B-21 has got me wondering about what would constitute a shift in the balance of power in the region, would we struggle to get 300 F-35s under a FMS deal. I know we don't have such a requirement but i was just wondering how far FMS would stretch
Last points first.

Could we get 300 F-35's under an FMS deal?

If we went to our good friends in the US and made a case, and proved that case, that we needed to have our approval for F-35's increased from 100 to 300 and our case was accepted, then I'm sure that LM would be bending over backwards to supply that need, if the USG says OK, they would too!

The question would be, why do we have to increase our requirement by 300%? What has so dramatically changed for such a request?

And unless the whole situation in our region changed so dramatically, we probably never would.

So what would constitute such a dramatic shift in the balance of power in our region, or regions of interest, to make such a change???

I really can't think of too much that would make us want to make such a shift.

If we were talking of a real extreme 'what if', that extreme 'what if' might be that our nearest neighbour went totally off the rails and started being all aggressive, arming itself to the hilt, maybe invited a 'very large' North Asia nation to base significant amounts of troops and equipment, etc, on its territory, and started overtly threatening us and our other close friends in the region. That would probably be an example of what could push the 'go' button, but again, can't see it happening to that extreme.

We can talk about 'what ifs' all day, but they usually tend to wander way off into la la land that it just doesn't make any sense.

Anyway, that's the extent of my way off 'what ifs'!!!
 

Oberon

Member
Thanks John hopefully I've got it right this time and GF my apologies for stuffing you about and i will watch the length of my posts. The talk about B-21 has got me wondering about what would constitute a shift in the balance of power in the region, would we struggle to get 300 F-35s under a FMS deal. I know we don't have such a requirement but i was just wondering how far FMS would stretch
It would involve an enormous effort and time to increase an F-35 fleet threefold to 300 aircraft! It takes years to recruit pilots and train them, build the facilities etc.

At this time we have said we'll take 72 and later order up to another 28. These will probably be for delivery in the late 2020s after we've gained experience on the F-35s, they've become cheaper per unit, the Shornets are towards the end of their working lives and the possibility of a 6th generation fighter has become clearer.
 
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Redlands18

Well-Known Member
It would involve an enormous effort and time to increase an F-35 fleet threefold to 300 aircraft! It takes years to recruit pilots and train them, build the facilities etc.

At this time we have said we'll take 72 and later order up to another 28. These will probably be for delivery in the late 2020s after we've gained experience on the F-35s, they've become cheaper per unit, the Shorners are towards the end of their working lives and the possibility of a 6th generation fighter has become clearer.
Sorry guys i wasn't saying we should buy 300 F-35s. I was trying to use that as an example, poorly it seems. The idea come about buying the LRSB and i thought there is no way it would pass FMS and got to wondering how many F-35s(under current geopolitical conditions) would it take before Congress would say no because it would change the balance of power in our region and i thought 300 may be the tipping point.
My apologies for any confusion as this could get into fantasy land which the mods hate. I in no way think we need a larger Air Combat force than is currently planned.
 

John Newman

The Bunker Group
Sorry guys i wasn't saying we should buy 300 F-35s. I was trying to use that as an example, poorly it seems. The idea come about buying the LRSB and i thought there is no way it would pass FMS and got to wondering how many F-35s(under current geopolitical conditions) would it take before Congress would say no because it would change the balance of power in our region and i thought 300 may be the tipping point.
My apologies for any confusion as this could get into fantasy land which the mods hate. I in no way think we need a larger Air Combat force than is currently planned.
No problem.

No issue talking about the occasional 'what if', as long as we all understand it is a what if.

It's only usually a problem when people are fair dinkum in totally believing their what if is real, then the conversation really starts to go way off into la la land (and then the Mods rightly step in and shut it down)!!!!

It's good to ask questions (and even poorly worded too), just a matter of as the old saying goes, 'put brain into gear before putting mouth into motion (or in this case the fingers on the keyboard before hitting enter!)'.

Cheers,
 

Joe Black

Active Member
Option - T346A - already flying for the Italians/NATO under the TLP (Tactical Leadership Programme) as “Aggressors”

Also on the shortlist as a replacement for the USAF T-X advanced trainer program
Alenia Aermacchi M-346 also used by the Israeli AF, Singaporean AF and being looked at by the Taiwanese AF too.

Funny too, that this is in fact a joint Russian design, with their designated Yak 130.
 

Redlands18

Well-Known Member
Defmin Payne announced yesterday at the airpower conference that the option for a further 4 P-8A Poseidons has been taken up and a in service date of 2023 for the MQ-4C Triton announced ;).This is the second major announcement in a week, Certainly seems the govt was waiting for the DWP release before giving final approval on a number of programs. The formal announcement on the purchase of the 3 Chinooks probably won't be far away.
 

t68

Well-Known Member
Defmin Payne announced yesterday at the airpower conference that the option for a further 4 P-8A Poseidons has been taken up and a in service date of 2023 for the MQ-4C Triton announced ;).This is the second major announcement in a week, Certainly seems the govt was waiting for the DWP release before giving final approval on a number of programs. The formal announcement on the purchase of the 3 Chinooks probably won't be far away.
Is their a transcript or media release for this by chance, interesting to see what she actually said.
 

Redlands18

Well-Known Member
Is their a transcript or media release for this by chance, interesting to see what she actually said.
Got it off the Australian Aviation site, so just a short report. All they have said about what Payne said is.
"As foreshadowed in the White paper, i can indictate today that the government has approved the aquisition of 4 additional P-8A Poseidons bringing the total number to 12". And also said that the first will be delivered this year and all 12 by 2022 and confirmed the entry date for the Tritons.
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Got it off the Australian Aviation site, so just a short report. All they have said about what Payne said is.
"As foreshadowed in the White paper, i can indictate today that the government has approved the aquisition of 4 additional P-8A Poseidons bringing the total number to 12". And also said that the first will be delivered this year and all 12 by 2022 and confirmed the entry date for the Tritons.
You need to post the link mate when you post things like this. I saw the story earlier today too, but you still need to post the link.
 

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
You need to post the link mate when you post things like this. I saw the story earlier today too, but you still need to post the link.
Depends if its come across as part of their email distrib alert

eg I'm on their first alert group and am not allowed to post any news ahead of any formal publication from them - that used to mean around the mag publication which could often be a month away. the alert list gets news out to people ahead of any announcements. its also invitation only, so you can't subscribe for the service. It may have changed since Andrew M was there, but he was always reminding me that I couldn't abuse the list when he first registered me on it

makes it hard with respect to our posting rules.

if its on any other medium of theirs and in the public domain then thats different
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Depends if its come across as part of their email distrib alert

eg I'm on their first alert group and am not allowed to post any news ahead of any formal publication from them - that used to mean around the mag publication which could often be a month away. the alert list gets news out to people ahead of any announcements. its also invitation only, so you can't subscribe for the service. It may have changed since Andrew M was there, but he was always reminding me that I couldn't abuse the list when he first registered me on it

makes it hard with respect to our posting rules.

if its on any other medium of theirs and in the public domain then thats different
Ìt was in the public domain on their website. I don't have a subscription nor am I on their email list. I just check it late every arvo Kiwi time.
 

John Newman

The Bunker Group
It certainly is exciting times for 'aviation' in the RAAF (and ADF generally) in the coming years.

So many 'replacement' and 'new' capabilities being introduced, all around the same time, and in a relatively short time period too.

Over an approx. 10 year period (including the here and now), we will see the following capabilities come into service, or start to enter service:

* C-27J
* MH-60R
* EC135 (HATS)
* EA-18G
* F-35A
* P-8A
* MQ-4C
* PC-21
* Gulfstream G550
* MQ-9 Reaper 'type' capability (probably Reaper itself).
* UAV capability for the RAN
* Little Bird type capability for the Special Forces
* Replacement for the Tiger ARH
* Bringing the MRH-90 fleet to FOC (hopefully?)
* Long Range Combat Search and Rescue Aircraft (MV-22 type capability?)
* Additional KC-30A
* Additional CH-47F
* Additional Medium / Heavy Lift Aircraft (whatever that may be, A-400M? Couple of second hand C-17A?)
* Start investigating what might replace the C-130J
* Start investigating what might replace the Hawk 127's
* Upgrade or replacement of the E-7A

The list goes on, and there are probably other things I've missed too!


Exciting times, but also times with so many new and replacement systems that have to have the 'risk' associated with so many and so many different systems being introduced, managed very very carefully too!!!
 

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Ìt was in the public domain on their website. I don't have a subscription nor am I on their email list. I just check it late every arvo Kiwi time.
they have an email group which originally was set up for defence industry or whoever the owners or senior editor deemed "ok" for early distrib

no idea as to the current structure as all my defence related emails now end up in a common bucket, I get so many I stopped looking at individual feeds ages ago, my filters only sought out things on topic now, no longer sender based.
 

t68

Well-Known Member
they have an email group which originally was set up for defence industry or whoever the owners or senior editor deemed "ok" for early distrib

no idea as to the current structure as all my defence related emails now end up in a common bucket, I get so many I stopped looking at individual feeds ages ago, my filters only sought out things on topic now, no longer sender based.
That sounds like a right royal pain in the ar5e, which I knew how to do that with mine as I only get to check it on weekends due to work commitments the amount from here at DT is annoying every time some post I have an alert sent to my email
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
That sounds like a right royal pain in the ar5e, which I knew how to do that with mine as I only get to check it on weekends due to work commitments the amount from here at DT is annoying every time some post I have an alert sent to my email
I ignore the email alerts now and just go to the new posts section. I find it quicker and easier to check topics that interest me.
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
But how do you stop the incoming Email alerts?
You can change that in your User CP > Settings and Options > Edit Options > Default Thread Subscription Mode > No Email Notification > Save Changes.

:eek:fftopic
 
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