I doubt IAF takes PAF seriously. On serious note, I doubt India would want to procure 10-20 F-16’s. Isn’t singapore going to place some F-16’s in kalaikunda. IT would make better sense to train against those as both parties would be benifitted. The RSAF have better training and more capable aircraft than PAF. Israel can also help in this regards. OH BTW aren’t the Thai F-16’s donated by singapore? I heard RSAF had given them 7 F-16’s.

Singapore did donate a number its F-16A/Bs but the Thai’s also accquired a number of the F-16 block 15 ADVs from the US. This Air Defence Variant is modified to employ the AIM-7 Sparrow medium range SARH AAM. IIRC the fleet was recently overhauled.

Daniel

Welcome to Port Darwin, Autstralia. The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) and USS Germantown (LSD 42)?

I think you’re right about the LSD 42 (at least the LSD 41 class anyway) but it can’t be an LHA. The Tarawa class have 5″ mounts forward on either beam leavijg the flight deck narrower there. The ship in the pic doesn’t have these so it has to be one of the follow-on Wasp LHD class.

Daniel

Well I did actually recognise the skyline but I’m afraid that one would have gone pretty quick anyway Ja. The first pic has NT in the watermark and the white building in the second has “Welcome to Darwin” on the roof 😉

Not sure about the first ship, Orion or Prinsendam perhaps? Second is Europa and the liner in the middle pic is Star Princess I think. The naval vessel is a Wasp class US LHD. Not sure about the one in the backgrounof that pic.

Daniel

Did the US ever have the will to produce a Viking sized VSTOL a/c? Sure I’ve seen the pics but I’ve never seen any prototypes.

The US has a Viking sized VTOL (not VSTOL or STOVL though), the V-22 Osprey.

Daniel

Dan: I have been on a couple of patorlies where we were fired upon by 5″ guns, sure these are old WWII 5″ guns but still deadly none the less.

It’s getting to the point where our patrolies are nothing but fishing vessels, and their tasks of enforcement are being handed on to the Anzacs (which is why they are being upgraded).

Australia should have gone for the OPV back in 98, that was such a good program. And 11 of those vessels would have been quiet sufficient for the role.

I forgot about this. Ja if you actually mean 5″/127mm then I stand corrected and agree with you. I find it a little hard to believe that there are pirate vessels out there cruising around with something the size of a 5″ gun on deck. Its a bit hard to hide and you can’t really argue its just for self protection. I also think that given the coverage that this pirate issue from time to time in the media I have expected to have heard about such an impressive piece of kit there certainly seems to be no mention of it when conducting a web search. The weapons of choice seem to be MGs and maybe an RPG for the better equipped bands. Against such foes I reiterate that a stabilised 25mm autocannon is quite sufficient.

I won’t argue that the OPV would have been a good vessel. Having an embarked helo (more Super Seasprites – the OPV was actually the reason the SH-2G was selected for the ANZAC’s) would significantly increase the utility of the vessles enable them to respond to situations much quicker, avoiding long sea chases etc.

Daniel

No Jon, what I am refering to is the material that they are made of (Aluminium Alloy), this couldn’t stop a crab let alone a bullet, and if you fire an RPG-7 at these boats you’d sink them in a flash. Yes I know first hand that the Pirates up where we patrol do have these weapons.

The other fact is that they are too lightly armed, a stabilised 25mm gun as the only weapon. You can’t even mount Missiles on these things for fear of melting them with the exhaust of ther launch.

So how many times have the pirates actually been foolhardy enough to fire upon the Navy? The 25mm round still outranges a machine-gun, rifle or shoulder fired light anti-armour weapon quite handsomely and the stabilisation (something the old 40mm on the Freemantles doesn’t have) allows the effective employment of the weapon from a good standoff distance.

These boats are only intended for general patrolling, EEZ enforcement etc tasks. They are quite capable of handling the tasks reuired of them. They are not supposed to mount missiles and play a combatant role.

Daniel

I understand the Russian carrier only operates 18 Flankers a couple or Frogfeet and 12-18 helos from 60 some thousand tons……….pretty poor…..

But then it continues the Russian standard of including a heavy SSM battery and comparatively heavy SAM load plus the radar system.

Daniel