newswatcher
29th Jun 2001, 16:43
From AviationNow:
"Australia, Britain and Canada could wind up using the Royal New Zealand Air Force's soon-to-be surplus combat pilots.
Top RNZAF officials say air forces from those nations are in talks to pick up some of the pilots and air crews from the RNZAF's air combat wing, which dropped its last bombs on Monday.
Despite weeks of protest from opposition parties and former military officials, Prime Minister Helen Clark's government decided in May to go ahead with plans to gut air defenses, disband the fighter force and reduce the RNZAF to only a handful of transports and six aging Lockheed P-3K Orion maritime patrol planes.
A day after that decision, the pilots said they'd rather fly someone else's fighters than retrain as transport pilots.
Next week, half of the 700 members of the wing will be told they're out of work; Monday's demonstration bombing run for students at the RNZAF's staff college will be the last attack of any kind by the wing unless the force is reconstituted under pressure from allies or a new government.
That run, in which two Vietnam-era Douglas A-4 Skyhawks dropped bombs and fired rockets and guns at the Kaipara weapons range at Kaipara Heads, northwest of Auckland, was part of the annual Tutor Boom training at the staff college.
Reporters barred from Monday's proceedings claim they were invited to witness the training, but then had their invitations withdrawn for reasons of political sensitivity, but the RNZAF insists politics had nothing to do with it.
"Exercise Tutor Boom was not a public demonstration; there was never any formal invitation to media, or anyone else outside the Defence Force, to attend today's demonstration," says air staff chief Air Vice Marshal Don Hamilton. "Media requests to attend the event were therefore declined."
Even so, May's decision continues to cause discomfort among allies and former military officers in New Zealand, which many governments believe will now be unable to participate meaningfully in regional defense agreements.
The RNZAF fleet of Douglas A-4 Skyhawks and Aermacchi fighter trainers is scheduled to stop using live weapons after this coming Sunday, though the planes will keep flying until Dec. 1. After that, the RNZAF will withdraw No. 2 Squadron - which handles conversion training for new Skyhawk pilots - from its Royal Australian Naval Air Station Nowra base, and disband it by Dec. 21. No. 14 Squadron, the fighter lead-in training unit at RNZAF Base Ohakea, and No. 75 fighter squadron, will be disbanded by the same date.
RNZAF brass plan to sell off both the Skyhawk and Macchi fleets. The 17 remaining elderly, outdated A-4s will be sold as-is, and officials will put them in storage in hopes of selling them in 2002. The service thinks it will get a better price for the 17 relatively new Aermacchi MB339CBs."
"Australia, Britain and Canada could wind up using the Royal New Zealand Air Force's soon-to-be surplus combat pilots.
Top RNZAF officials say air forces from those nations are in talks to pick up some of the pilots and air crews from the RNZAF's air combat wing, which dropped its last bombs on Monday.
Despite weeks of protest from opposition parties and former military officials, Prime Minister Helen Clark's government decided in May to go ahead with plans to gut air defenses, disband the fighter force and reduce the RNZAF to only a handful of transports and six aging Lockheed P-3K Orion maritime patrol planes.
A day after that decision, the pilots said they'd rather fly someone else's fighters than retrain as transport pilots.
Next week, half of the 700 members of the wing will be told they're out of work; Monday's demonstration bombing run for students at the RNZAF's staff college will be the last attack of any kind by the wing unless the force is reconstituted under pressure from allies or a new government.
That run, in which two Vietnam-era Douglas A-4 Skyhawks dropped bombs and fired rockets and guns at the Kaipara weapons range at Kaipara Heads, northwest of Auckland, was part of the annual Tutor Boom training at the staff college.
Reporters barred from Monday's proceedings claim they were invited to witness the training, but then had their invitations withdrawn for reasons of political sensitivity, but the RNZAF insists politics had nothing to do with it.
"Exercise Tutor Boom was not a public demonstration; there was never any formal invitation to media, or anyone else outside the Defence Force, to attend today's demonstration," says air staff chief Air Vice Marshal Don Hamilton. "Media requests to attend the event were therefore declined."
Even so, May's decision continues to cause discomfort among allies and former military officers in New Zealand, which many governments believe will now be unable to participate meaningfully in regional defense agreements.
The RNZAF fleet of Douglas A-4 Skyhawks and Aermacchi fighter trainers is scheduled to stop using live weapons after this coming Sunday, though the planes will keep flying until Dec. 1. After that, the RNZAF will withdraw No. 2 Squadron - which handles conversion training for new Skyhawk pilots - from its Royal Australian Naval Air Station Nowra base, and disband it by Dec. 21. No. 14 Squadron, the fighter lead-in training unit at RNZAF Base Ohakea, and No. 75 fighter squadron, will be disbanded by the same date.
RNZAF brass plan to sell off both the Skyhawk and Macchi fleets. The 17 remaining elderly, outdated A-4s will be sold as-is, and officials will put them in storage in hopes of selling them in 2002. The service thinks it will get a better price for the 17 relatively new Aermacchi MB339CBs."