Using you method of logic Dubya…. who does the USA intend striking?
I dunno but my memory may be fading but the USA has 40yr old B-52s….. what countries do they intend useing them on? What specific target do they have in mind?
B-1 and B-2s…… again.. why have them?
Lets just retire them all then as there is no specific target “in mind” for those 3 particular aircraft anymore.
I seem to recall the F-111 doing well at RED FLAG also over the past few years coming up against more modern aircraft.
Australia has a vast expanse with very few airbases…. the F-111s range means it can fly across the country unrefuelled without the need for tanker support…. meaning should any hostile force land on our northern shores (not that it will happen, but you would be naive to think it wouldn’t) the “pigs” could reach virtually any point on the continent to support any land forces which is in enemy contact. This scenario has been played out many times before during exercises where F-111 were staged from Amberly and “bombed” targets in and around Scherger and returned to AMB. (Or sometimes Townsville).
These geriatric rust buckets as you put them have served us well and will leave a hole in our capabilites when retired… Practically any type of weapon has been cleared to hang off the aussie pig…. HARM, Harpoon, AIM-9, Popeye, CBUs, GBUs, LGBs and not to mention its Recce role as well.
Reading that the Navys’ Sea Sprites may be cancelled altogether and the program written off makes one wonder again as to why such stupid decisions are made.
Buying old airframes (you can argue the point all you like… 20 to 30 yr old airframes are just that!) and then trying to intigrate a whole new weapons system into a limited (11 airframes) amount of helicopters, instead of buying a new machine which has reached IOC was stupid enough.
Now the program is so far behind and over budget (Sounds like a submarine program we all know of) that the minister has murmoured the scrapping of the lot.
It is said to need between $100 to $200million and another 2 more years before they finally become operational….
Also read with interest that funding for certification of the F-35s external wing tanks (which the RAAF need) has been cancelled!?!?.
Oh the joys of ordering something which still hasn’t reached operational capability……. :diablo:
And who says the F-111 doesn’t play a role in Australia’s defence??
Its one thing being able to defend ones self…. another is to strike back when hit…… I think they call it “Force projection” ???
(Yet another reason as to why we shouldn’t buy one type of aircraft….. especially a small single engine one!)
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