Re: NBN - the major cost of putting in the NBN is laying fibre that we can continually upgrade as optical technology improves. Think of it as a national highway that we can multiply the speed limit and lanes by 10, simply by replacing the traffic lights at either end. In time the uses and capabilities will be used, even if right now it seems overkill for downloading cat pictures.
My gut feel on the F-35 is its going to be lacking capability for a long time and really not the right platform for us. Simply down to its load out capability, range and being a single engine platform for our wide terrain. Not to mention we don't get the full stealth capability. I am not even sure there is a good option to select right now, but I think the fact we have not seriously evaluated that question is disturbing. For the amounts of money we will be throwing at it, I would have thought we would think long and hard about what we want because we don't buy fighters that often.
Also with Four Corners, I think they had the same dump on the new guy when the decision for the super hornets was announced. They had the same air power guys showing how because we no longer had the F-111s we would lose any air war as soon as our tankers were shot down, and that the hornets lacked the range, speed and load for long range strikes. At any rate they seem to like letting Air Power Australia have a say on how bad the DOD is at picking planes.
Last edited by SgtBundy; 19th Feb 2013 at 10:47.