January 30, 2013 at 6:16 pm
Here is my hypothetical air power question. Your country which is rich in natural resources and covers about 430,000 square miles it shares 3 land borders and has a 970 miles coast line with national waters. Two of three countries have air forces that number between 300 and 380 combat aircraft from the 80’s and 90’s plus 50 to 60 attack helicopters and a good number of armoured vehicles of mainly eastern block origin and are becoming unstable the third country has 30 mirage 2000s of late 80s speck and 60 updated Jaguar strike fighters plus are looking replace50 older types it also has just updated its navy with two new destroyers and a second French made sub and to date you have good relations. Your air force at this time operates
56 Mirage F-1 in serves 1990
60 F-5E/F in serves 1982 upgraded 1998
100 Mig 23 in serves 1980 upgraded 2001
60 SU-24 in serves 1991 upgraded 2006
30 BAE Hawk 127 in serves 1998
10 C-130H in serves 1995 2 of which are air to air tankers
10 Transall C-160 in serves 1984
16 super lynx in serves 2008 used for naval support on board the navy’s ship
30 Mi- 17 in 2005
Due to the uncertain future and high operating costs your government has tasked you with making the air force more capable, flexible and cost affective you have no loyalty problems but your government is being push to help out with pace keeping duties in the region which is a mixture of infrastructure .
So were would I start
Upgrade 40 of the Mirage F-1’s to MF2000 speck for air defence – ground attack
Retire the F-5 fleet and replace with 50 F-18E 10 F 10 G for air defence – ground attack – electronic warfare*
Retire the Mig-23 SU-24 fleets and replace with 200 JF-17’s with western weapons for ground attack- air defence
Retire the C-160 fleet and replace with 10 C-295M
Add 4 C295AEW and 3 C295MPA
Add 4 A310MRTT
Add surface to air defence system
Look to replace C-130’s from 2018 to 2025
Add 4 more Mi-17’s
Look in to the upgrade and integration of Brimstone on to the Hawk fleet
PLEASE LETS NOT HAVE ANY NAMES OF COUNTRIES JUST WHAT TYPES YOU WOULD FIT IN AND HOW