You know, I’m still baffled a current 4.5 generation support fighter like the Mitsubishi F-2 even in its baseline configuration cannot replace a 40 year old vietnam war era airframe (The Us did it with the F-16adf). Instead the goverment is pushing the purchase of overkill in the Typhoon, Raptors, Superhornets and Lightning 3 s of the fighter world unless they want to replace their f-15s too.

Typhoon is not an overkill. The Chinese has Su27 and so did the Russian. Let’s face it these conutry will never be true friends. And do not qoute those expert in the US who said F15 is enough. Those guys based their conclusion on the experience in places like Afgan which is a joke.

So whats wrong with Skyhawks with sidewinders?
They make great air defence assets if theres nothing else onboard your ship . Even the US Navy tried them out on old ww2 aircraft carriers in Vietnam and they have sucessfully intercepted soviet assets from time to time
besides what else can fit on the sao paulo that doesn’t cost a bomb?

Other than you cannot intercept an aircraft with a standoff missile before they lanch an attack – yeah they are fine.

the US jeapordizes its relationship with Korea if they do that
Korea shares alot of historic relations with China
for centuries, China defended Korea when it was invaded by barbarians like Japan, and other groups.
Most of Korea’s culture and language is rooted from China
theres strong roots because of that.
yes, there are times when China invaded Korea, but Korea also invaded China too..but these are not recent. unlike Japan

Korea invaded China? When was that?

Maybe, but we keep in mind that the Japanse ‘M’ were built in the 90s or a decade further in technology.

They are still “M” model. If those missiles are that much different they would have been given a new designation.

Most of those Afican and Caribbean countries are simply too poor to even think about having a jet fighter. New Zealand is also uniqe. The island is in the middle of the ocean with only a handful of countries arround it. Air traffic cannot be compared to Europe. I think it is safe to say that only Australia has fighters down there. So New Zealand can afford to do without an air force.

Can anybody seriously ever see Austria going to war with Germany, Italy, Switzerland or the Czech Republic? As a member of the EU it’s locked into a political union and legal system with is between it and any threats. What is the nearest realistic threat? Either South or East of the Medi or the former USSR, either of which would entail a major war involving all of Europe if Austria ever got into trouble from Russia or the Middle East. Given that, it’d make sense for Austria to invest in internal security capability and rely on others to defend their airspace, with maybe a handful of lightweight fighters based on advanced trainers to handle things like air hijack situations. Do what countries like New Zealand and Ireland do and just rely on the fact that other bigger and better armed countries will do the real heavy job of providing air defence and have a free ride.

To be fair, the ability to police your own air space is a sign of independance. I do not think most poeple could accpet the condition like Ireland.

To me this is like buying a BMW just to drive the kids to school. I have nothing against that, after all it is not my money but I will not say it is suitable. If they want a morden fighter, Gripen is just as advance.

As for the Dutch and the Belgian, they are active member of the NATO who contribute a lot to NATO operation. So they have more reasons to buy more powerful fighters.

Actually if you are not asking for much there are plenty of cheap 2nd hand F16 out there. Anyway I agree that Eurofighter is an overkill for Austria.