Dont flinch!
Don’t flinch Labor!
Finally I thought the Gov’t was starting to make some decent procurement decisions. The C-17, although driven by an ill-conceived M1A1 purchase was for the most part a great, min-time, off the shelf acquisition.
Now, for once the Govt made a couple of smart decisions in a row. They are faced with a possible scenario in 2012 of the JSF being still 4 years away, the F18A fuselage cracking in half (alla F15C)…I know HUG will prevent this…and the F111 being scattered around various parks in Ipswich on a stick.
They looked ahead. Became concerned about the scenario above and looked for a solution. They wanted one that they could buy right now. Off the shelf. A proven design, with all the bells and whistles to make it effective for at least the next 10 years or so. There is nothing else out there that has AESA, 120s, 9X, link, helmets, J series weapons, advanced pod etc etc etc all in one package. We don’t need to wait for the development of any of this on the Block II hornet. The USN is flying and fighting in this a/c right now. F15E is a great jet, but it doesn’t have all that gear…yet. AESA is still 6-9 years away in the USAF.
This is not a sales pitch…every other suggested platform is still under development in some way. I would hate to see the RAAF (via the new Labor Govt’s post election posturing) piss this away. We have an opportunity to get an aircraft into service in min time that will give us a 10 fold increase in every modern air combat capability you can name. The only thing it won’t do is M1.2 at sea level for half an hour….or at all with any sort of load-out. But who cares? The F18F will bring so much to the table it would make the old and bold's eyes water….and I agree a Su-30 will turn circles around it. It will on an Eagle also btw.
Explaining the Avionics/EW and Weapons caps of the block II hornet to dudes like those clowns on 4-corners would be like explaining to your dad how to set the auto-timer function on your old VCR. They just don’t understand.
Anyway my point is…I hope they don’t piss this 90% solution away looking for the last 5%.
Last edited by MDPE; 10th Jan 2008 at 01:17.