well if they think they need a carrier to defend their islands then that is what they need as we move into a new world order in the South China sea the old rules of 70 years ago will just go out the window

I don’t see Canada getting F-35A until 2023/25 as the US will need them first then Israel next will be Japan then European players Australia will come after that then Canada and will the F-18A/B last that long I think they should buy 40 F-18E/F pool the A/B’s to help make them last and then buy lower numbers of F-35A when they become available this is no more than Australia-UK and even the US are doing the UK will operate Typhoon until 2040 I see USN/USMC operating SH until around the same time

with F-35 once the clock is off i.e. WVR it is in trouble against the likes of Su-30, Mig-35, Typhoon, Rafale, Gripen E , J-10 as it is not fast enough to run away and not agile enough to stay and fight so lets hope it only has to drop bombs on light to medium threat targets with no real A2A something all of the above can also do it wont be long before stealth is un-clocked and F-35 is found to be fat and slow

As said the Suez Crisis was not US led if any thing the US stab the British French and Israel in the back and walk away with some good oil contracts

Ok gents lets remove the types for a moment and what is the RMAF’s threat reduction exercise saying i.e. what are there jets doing now and what do they see their old and new jets doing in say 5-10-15 years from now and then we can start to fit type’s to a seen threat

things like who you think you will work with are important

A T prop tracker with seachwater 2000 is a good way to go for the carrier proven air-frame proven radar another type could be a reconfigured S-3 Viking if there are any air-frames with the life left in them also fitted with SW2000

I think as pointed out the main need at this time is the maritime patrol and as they already operate the King Air MP they should look to buy 4 more to give them 6 in total at a cost of $13.5mn each and $54mn in total its not the best MPA type but it has good spears support world wide also as time goes on I think Sri Lanka needs to think in terms of in house support for its Navy i.e. building OPV’s . At this time it has 6 large OPV’s and 11 medium OPV I think they need to do a deal with Frasser or Damen both companies have a good record of tec transfer to build 5 80m OPV’s and 8 40m OPV over a 5 year period this would have 3 advantages firstly jobs and tec transfer for the country Secondly the ability to standardise on 2 main types and not the 10 different types in services now with two engine types(one for the 80m boat and one for the 40m boat) one radar type and two weapons types (i.e. a 30mm auto cannon and 50 cal machine gun) thirdly this would allow for ease of maintenance – supply and training which would bring down operating costs and allow a fully integrated navy

Costs
Frasser 80m OPV80 $38mn each
Damen 80m OPV8313 (Sarah Baartman Class) $20mn each
Frasser 40m OPV40 (Diana Class)$8.5mn each
King Air 200 MPA $13.5mn each

agreed maybe in time 10 to 12 JF-17’s or Tejas multi-role jets will do the job 2 on QRA 2 in deep maintenance 2 on line maintenance and 4 to 6 for the days duty putting aside buying the new jet they would save in operating costs