- “This is the only logical explanation, along with the slight risk that something would happen in a Taipan and our bleeding hearts would blame Australia for the loss, no matter the benefit it brought. The Ukrainians would have those machines running and working great and it would expose how useless all levels of Australian military and government are compared to the rest of the world, nobody in the top brass wants that.“
I’ve held back making any further comments on this thread since this line of thinking has been expressed a few times now, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to take heat for my own opinion here but that’s what makes the internet so fun.
In my opinion, “the most logical explanation” for the Australian decision to dismantle and bury their NH90 fleet and to also reject the Ukrainian request is super simple: Money.
They are done spending money on this program. And they weren’t going to spend money for Ukraine to have them either, because that would be more Australian money that would be lit on fire. It’s that simple.
And now the part that folks are not going to like: Ukraine would not have been able to “show up Australia” by magically making this fleet viable. This isn’t meant to diminish the courage and tenacity of the Ukrainian people, this is the cold reality of the situation and to pretend otherwise would end, in my opinion, a r “most logical scenario” of more dead Ukrainians.
This wouldn’t be due to any mechanical faults or perceived fault of design of the NH90. These aircraft and crews unlucky enough to be operating them would face the same tragic end as the brave Ukrainian soldiers who rode Leopard tanks and other western armored equipment into battle. This has nothing to do with them or the NH90 or any other helicopter they can get their hands on, it’s just the reality modern warfare, especially in this context.
I’m sure that last bit will get me labeled a pro Russian troll or something and it won’t be worth trying to argue that I’m not.
I can understand disagreeing with a government’s decision to dispose of equipment that feels wasteful, I cannot however understand believing that another government, with zero resources, could take that same equipment and magically have a better outcome, in the middle of a war, and then successfully operate the same equipment in a threat environment where they have no functioning air defense capability, and it NOT result in more needless death and destruction.
I guess that’s it. I’ll go put on my fire suit now and await the inevitable firestorm.
FltMech