pilatusIn the offshore oil industry a lot of people still consider the S61N the best machine there is, old as they are. I always felt more comfortable on them than the other machines we used, there is a solidity to them lacking in other machines that does inspire confidence. The UK SAR requirement is becoming a bit of a joke, the RN and RAF want to hive it off to other people (not that unreasonable given that a very high proportion of the missions are for the benefit of civilians and the health service), nobody else wants to pay for it and the government is looking at one of those dumbass PFI projects where we get ripped off for a couple of decades to keep the borrowing off Dick Turpin Browns balance sheet. Joke 😡 I’d like to see RN/RAF SAR EH101’s but I don’t think we’ll see it.
theres no way a new fleet of 101s will be bought for RAF to replace the seakings when their time to bow out comes!just look at the defence cuts all through the British armed services they are that desperate they have to use Danish 101s just of the production line for army support so theres no way new SAR copters will be bought!
pilatusYep, they learned a lesson there, the old Sea King and S61 family may be big old bruisers short on finesse and modern trickery, but for operations offshore in hostile conditions they’re still hard to beat.
its probably why they are still flying to this day!one of the S61s flown from ireland is over 40years old and is still good as new with 97% availability!that speaks for itself!
though the coastguard are thinking of replacing them with S92s and AW139s just like the british coastguard!
pilatusthere are options on two more AW139s which have be excercised by the end of december, but it is hoped here in Ireland that 4AW149s will be ordered to support irelands battalion promised to the EU battlegroup program!
you mean when they thought they could!?they were advised not to fly more than 50nautical miles of the coast but have been recorded flying up to 100nm.though SAR is no longer an air corps undertaking!its handled by CHC S61s now.
pilatusfadhb ar bith!theres alot more on the weblink on the second page!
pilatusthere are more pics of them uploaded on http://www.irishairpics.com/database/7days.php pictures of it equipped for special forces support such as the one linked here http://www.irishairpics.com/database/photo/1018038/ with GPMGs and fast roping mounts.
pilatusIrish Air Corps Vampires!
pilatusthey are more than likely private security personal hired by the USA,so more or less they are mercenaries!
pilatusI am happy you agree with me. after you post, look like some people here also say same thing that American will support military action on French if French attack Israel planes.
what the hell is wrong with you?do you really think the USA would attack France because the french were upholding a UN mandate agreed to by the USA aswell!no!they would not!it would majorly damage the USA s position on the international arena and they would have almost every european nation complaining to them,it would cause the break up of NATO more than likely and carve out the foundations for a United Europe which would replace the USA as the worlds biggest superpower!not even Americas closest ally Great Britain would stand by them if the USA bombed france!Israel doesnt mean that much to the USA that they would go this far!and i think almost every forum member would agree with me on this one even the American users!?
pilatussome really nice pics!especially the one of the mirage2000 flying over the sea with the reflection of the sunset on the waves below!
pilatusLOL, a Chinese accusing others of copying! That must be the biggest paradox I have encountered since end of the last decade..
exactly!almost every single fighter in their inventory that is produced in china is a rip off!Be it a copy of the lavi,fishbed,attempt at a flogger,flanker you name it they are almost all based on existing designs!maybe there are a few exceptions!im surprised they didnt attempt to copy the fulcrum aswell!
pilatusoh, also you do not have proofs of two Yemeni people can detach the tank, it is just claim from some news site, there is no such thing. if you believe such things, show proof that it can be remove so easily.
well can you prove that they cant attach fuel tanks!?you dont need proof for everything that you say!what sounds so technically hard about attaching fuel tanks?your arguement has no basis man!none what so ever!and also mikoyan stated that that the smt wing can be strengthened to allow an extra pulon to be attached to each wing!
pilatusyour example is not good because the country you say have no choice. What other airplane can Indai use on Gorshkov that do not need catapult? just MiG-29K and Harrier :rolleyes:
What western country will sell latest fighter to Algeria? Just Russia
what airplane can Yemen afford? Just Russia :rolleyes:Country where they have more options.. they buy others
Bangladesh – got rid of MiG-29 and go for Chinese because it is easy to fly and cheap to operate
Malaysia – priority go to F-18E and Su-30, not MiG-29
India – prefer Mirage 2000 and Su-30
Poland – prefer brand new F-16and they say MiG-29 suck because the user did not use it like how it is supposed to be use.. so i ask you how is it suppose to be use eh?
as already said india could have opted for F18s or rafale and both would be seriously tough competition for the MiG.France would have sold to algeria either rafale or mirage2000 they probably could have even got F16,F18s.algeria is not in the bad books with the USA.Poland bought new MiGs because they got them dirt cheap and America paid most of the price tag for them.
My point is if you buy a MiG and an F16 and you dont invest in enhancements or upgrades every years to make sure your MiG remains a viable option but your F16 does what do you think is going to happen?thats how fast the pace of development is!
ask the israelis that evaluated the fulcrum how it could be used!they are the ones that flew an example borrowed from poland against F4s F15s F16s and said the MiG was as least as good as if not better than all the aircraft flown against it!refer to Yefim Gordons book titled MiG-29 FULCRUM.He explains it a bit better.if bad tactics are used such as a single fighter flying against 4enemy fighters abviously its going to get creamed or as was the case with alot of MiG kills,the MiGs are flying against fighters with AWACS support which also makes a big difference!
i think you just dont like the MiG29 and are trying to diss it by using any example you can find which makes it look poor!
pilatusA correction – Malaysia has the advanced C/D model with uprated F404 and latest APG-73 radar. A hell of a striker, rated at 80-85% capability of F-15E.
actually they just fly the D spec hornet 8 of them i believe!
pilatusAdmarilZhengHe
another point!you said the israelis would be happy because its a fighter that has been shot down alot!?if you look at the nations that used the fulcrum in combat you would see that most of these airforces did not properly maintain their fighters nor had they the money to upgrade them nor had the money to afford flight hours for their pilots.now tell me how they were supposed to fare any better given those circumstances?they could not!if the roles were reversed and the countries flying the maintained upgraded fighters now had just their F16s that barely made it of the ground and havent had a proper overhaul since their delivery,how would they do against a trained air force with proper tactics and procedures!?
oh and the israelis actually rated the fulcrum quite highly and said it was a brilliant weapons platform if used the way it was supposed to!
pilatusExactly. Nobody flies over New Zealand. It’s 1000 km to anywhere, a hell of a lot further to anywhere that isn’t their closest ally (ignoring tiny islands with a few light infantry and a coastal patrol boat or two, donated by NZ or Oz), & isn’t en route to anywhere. If you’re down there, you’re either flying to New Zealand, or you’re a hostile transcontinental bomber, or a carrier air group, or you’re about to run out of fuel, crash, & die. NZ has decided not to defend directly against what they consider the tiny risk of either of the threatening two, but to rely on reciprocal aid from allies, in return for NZ help in international policing.
Geography matters. Austria, Ireland & New Zealand have different geography. Means different neighbours, as well. Ireland is, in effect, part of the UKs air defence zone. The UK does not (OK, some minor transgressions by helicopters during The Troubles, but not significantly) take advantage of Irelands lack of air defences to intrude on Irish airspace, & will, despite the lack of any defence treaty, defend it against anyone hostile – though that is unlikely to be needed, because of geography. The Irish know that. Ireland is not, due to its position, susceptible to “friendly” trespassing of the sort Austria has suffered from the USA. So Ireland, like New Zealand, feels comfortable in not defending its airspace.
If NZ or Ireland were in Austrias position, I do not doubt that they would go the same way. Maybe not Eurofighters, but fast jets of some kind.
The RAF does not patrol Irish airspace and the only way you would see RAF fighters over Irish skies is if there was a terrorist attack and the RAF reacted hours later and sends a few F3s to loiter for a while!Ireland lies on one of the busiest air routes in the world and it is going to get busier shortly as most route ways across the atlantic are going to be moved so they pass over Ireland.because terrorism is still a major threat to the airline industry and if there were ever anymore plans to hijack aircraft it could happen over aispace which is in Irish jurustiction and and it would be up to us to take care of ourselves,so i think Ireland should have a fighter force albeit a small one which is capable of carrying out day to day patrols and is capable of having an aircraft sitting on 24hour combat readiness to simply defend our country.
oh and there was more than just RAF helis overflying the border during the troubles in Northern Ireland actually Irish alouettes crossed onto the british side also and back in the fifties an RAF canberra flew over Dublin quite low and onto the Air Corps base at baldonnel and took everybody by surprise making a pass at ultra low level and going really fast!the Irish returned the favour the next week when they flew a flight of seafires over the border and buzzed the Royal Navy Air station at Eglington which is now Derry city airport making a series of low passes at low speed and high speed to **** the British off before gaining alltitude and making off back towards the EIRE!!
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