Originally Posted by
junior.VH-LFA
Aerial Perspective, your detailed account of how strategic deterrence works, while absolutely riveting and great entertainment value, is irrelevant to this thread
And for what it's worth, if you really think the Collins class subs have spent their entire time in Australian waters, it says more about how ill conceived your views on defence spending are than anything I or anyone else could reply to you with, so you've saved me some effort.
Strategic deterrence, yeh, I agree the F-111 was a strong deterrent. If it was so necessary though, why was it replaced with the laughable F-18E/F... an aeroplane with about a 5th of combat radius, about a 1/3rd of the load and operating at Mach 1.8 vs March 2.3... that blows the deterrence argument out of the water when it is replaced with something that is bloody anaemic by comparison. Even the F-35 is a flawed aircraft... better hope it gets everything on the way in to a battle because it's lit up like a Xmas tree on the way out, lacking all round stealth. The F-111 didn't have stealth but it had speed and could outrun just about anything else, even the Su-35. Only the F-15 is quicker as conventional aircraft go.
As for the submarines, they have been so plagued with problems from day 1, what makes you think the new ones will be any different?