Party Animal
21st May 2006, 15:57
Gents / Ladies
I'm currently taking a sabbatical from the front-line in the attaché world of Defence Diplomacy. One of the countries that I am involved with will shortly be seeking to procure new transport aircraft and although a tender has yet to go out, initial front runners include old refurbished C130's, new 'J' models or smaller options such as the Spartan or EADS Casa CN-235. On Tuesday, I will be attending a lunch where the senior players from my host nation will seriously be discussing the merits of the potential options available. They are very keen to hear the British perspective as a major user of both old and new C130 models. Clearly, my views would form only a miniscule part of the decision making process however, my comments would certainly be noted. Now comes the reason for this thread. I am not from a truckie background and although, I have spent many hours as a pax in C-130's, I really have nothing useful to say beyond the obvious. Therefore, I will be very grateful for any balanced opinions or comments that seasoned operators may have - obviously within the bounds of OPSEC. I certainly don't want to start another slanging match between the diehards of either type, but is there any clear data that I don't have to wade through thousands of books or web sites to obtain. Such as: typical operating costs per hour, maintenance comparisons, operational capability (my host country has a parachute regiment - is the J fully cleared to the same level as the older models?). How much British content is involved in the old/new aircraft - or even the other options suggested? Any good war stories would also be welcomed if you don't mind them being repeated. Opinions also welcomed on the merits of fewer but bigger aircraft against more but smaller aircraft? Finally, apart from the recommendations made after the tragic loss of the RAF C-130 in the desert last year, are there any other clear lessons that have been learnt the hard way that could possibly be discussed.
That's probably enough for now and in the words of Auto Trader magazine - no timewasters please.
P.S. On a completely separate note, I will not be able to hold back from telling the head of the air force about the JPA debacle and the fact that I am one of the many aircrew still without flying pay or a pay slip for the month of April!
I'm currently taking a sabbatical from the front-line in the attaché world of Defence Diplomacy. One of the countries that I am involved with will shortly be seeking to procure new transport aircraft and although a tender has yet to go out, initial front runners include old refurbished C130's, new 'J' models or smaller options such as the Spartan or EADS Casa CN-235. On Tuesday, I will be attending a lunch where the senior players from my host nation will seriously be discussing the merits of the potential options available. They are very keen to hear the British perspective as a major user of both old and new C130 models. Clearly, my views would form only a miniscule part of the decision making process however, my comments would certainly be noted. Now comes the reason for this thread. I am not from a truckie background and although, I have spent many hours as a pax in C-130's, I really have nothing useful to say beyond the obvious. Therefore, I will be very grateful for any balanced opinions or comments that seasoned operators may have - obviously within the bounds of OPSEC. I certainly don't want to start another slanging match between the diehards of either type, but is there any clear data that I don't have to wade through thousands of books or web sites to obtain. Such as: typical operating costs per hour, maintenance comparisons, operational capability (my host country has a parachute regiment - is the J fully cleared to the same level as the older models?). How much British content is involved in the old/new aircraft - or even the other options suggested? Any good war stories would also be welcomed if you don't mind them being repeated. Opinions also welcomed on the merits of fewer but bigger aircraft against more but smaller aircraft? Finally, apart from the recommendations made after the tragic loss of the RAF C-130 in the desert last year, are there any other clear lessons that have been learnt the hard way that could possibly be discussed.
That's probably enough for now and in the words of Auto Trader magazine - no timewasters please.
P.S. On a completely separate note, I will not be able to hold back from telling the head of the air force about the JPA debacle and the fact that I am one of the many aircrew still without flying pay or a pay slip for the month of April!