Australia went thru the same predicament toward the end on the Mirage 111 service, keep the Mirage 111 in service a bit longer and hope the F-16/F-18/ Mirage 2000 generation A/C were not delayed to much or buy the Mirage F1 as a stop gap , they took the chance and waited, the Mirage 111 got new Matra missiles to keep them going and good luck they were not needed in anger and the F/A-18 A/B's arrived in an acceptable time scale. Now 30 years later the world is not as stable and rather than taking the chance as Australia did in the late 70's will get a stopgap in the F/A-18F S/Hornet,just as the Mirage F1 was looked at as a stopgap and would have been ordered without going to tender because of similarity to the Mirage 111 in spares,maintenance and training etc, the F/A-18F wil be ordred as a stop gap for the same reason - ease of intergration into service with minimal cost,training and infurstructure of a completely new type.
Australian Defence procurement has had its ups and downs in the last couple of years:
The good ones- Collins class subs (eventually!!),ANZAC Class frigates, ASLAV 25,Abrams Tanks (the Armour boys love them both),Tanker for Navy (HMAS Sirius), C-17's, Air Warfare Destroyer, A330 Tanker(Eventually),737 Awacs (eventually)and hopfully choose the Spanish Helicopter Carriers
The sh*t ones- Tiger Helicopters (should have been Apache),Seasprite Helicopters (more SeaHawks),NH90 Helicopters (UH-60 M's) , Steyr Rifles (M4/M16), John Deere Bulldozers( should have been Caterpillar).
Last edited by Blackhawk9; 18th Feb 2007 at 18:14.