Did it kinda fizzle out did it.. i heard it was going to be this grand coalition stretching from the persian gulf to the pacific.. dont know what became of it… but i would like to know what happened to the Iranian and Indian bids for membership

Im of the belief that if Labor does make it into Govnt. (and its bloody about time on a personal level) that it will make sure defence is adequatelly funded. The major areas of expertise for Kim Beazley are Foreign Policy and Defence. So we can expect good things based on our actual requirements based on what we need as opposed to what the United States would most like for us to buy. I think theres a couple of major decisions that need to be taken when it comes to our defence forces:

1)Get a usefull aircraft, of proven design, and in usefull numbers to replace the F-111 and the F-18. If thats nor possible out of one airframe then consider replacing them with 2 different types, as per what we have always done in the past (since WW2) 1 fighter, 1 bomber

2)Overturn the retarded decision to purchase 50 secondhand M1A1’s at what is pretty much full price and get a lighter, faster, more modern tank (Think Leo 2A6) and get a decent amount … 150 aint asking for too much is it?

3)Arm the ANZACS properly.. this ‘for but not with’ policy is next to useless… your not going to tell your enemy to wait a year so you can properly upgrade your warships so you can actually fight a war

4)Buy more Anzacs

5)Established a war doctrine based on beeing able to fight a stand alone war, coalition fighting is great but what if we actually get invaded one day. Commando actions are fantastic, but sometimes you need a big fat armored division to actually stop an enemy

6) Buy more helicopters, 22 Tigers and a similar number of the NH-90 just isnt going to cut it for anything more than air show displays, I think that at least 50 of the Tiger and almost 100 of the NH-90 is required in order to be a serious player.

Lets wait and see shall we

This is how i would do it.

I would let the intelligence slip through the usuall suspects (tipping off a hezbollah cell thats been infiltrated by mossad would work) that you are planning to launch a nuclear attack from a certaint battery of shahab launchers at a certain sight. Put up a token air patrol around it and make it look like your defending it.

Now im assuming you would have a pretty decent air defence setup, probably some S300’s and the like and whatever else you have to throw up there. The trick is to have at least 5 dummy sites for every real one, and i dont mean cardboard cutouts, i mean real looking batteries, decoy electronic warfare devices… the lot. Make it out as if your entire force (of decoys that is) is waiting for the Americans to attack. The real ones are hidden further out, pretty much right about the area where the americans will weapons release (and as such be as unstealthy as possible), heavily camouflaged, and totally turned off.

All you need to do is wait for the massive alfa strike, have the decoys demolished one after an other, and as the strikes are reaching their crescendo, unmask your proper air defence assets (wich should be directly under the US air force if youve done your homework right), and fire away.

Massive anti air ambush :diablo:

If your really evil such as myself, send a force of tomcats or phantoms on a martyrdom mission as the ambush begins, load them up with fuel tanks and AAMs and send them after the tankers and the awacs aircraft wich would be waiting just outside of the main theater of battle. In the mayhem you may score a few kills before the Americans realise whats going on and take them out.

you will probably lose quite a few aircraft and most of your air defence assets, as well as the decoys, but you should be able to take down a good dozen or so American aircraft, including a B-2 or 2 if you get really lucky.

The aim is to kill as meany heavy strikers, tankers and awacs aircraft as possible.. avoid the lawn darts and the eagles.. there a dime a dozen and without the force multipliers they arnet nearly as effective.

If you where really evil you would then kamikaze your entire navy (apart from the kilos, there actually usefull) against the carrier battle group/s in the gulf.. That tactic was already proven to work in a US training exersize that i read on this forum a bloody long time ago

This will all pan out diplomatically in the end anyways, well the Cyprus issue will anyway. The facts at this moment remain as such. Cyprus and Greece are in the EU, Turkey is not. The new German government as well as several other European governments are not overly keen on the whole idea of Turkey beeing in the EU anyway and it has been stated that the resolution of the Cypriot issue is a necessity in the acceptance of Turkeys entry to the EU. The recent NO vote by the Cypriots has illustrated that we will not vote YES on any referendum unless it is pretty much totally in our favour (you cant blame us, we got invaded for no good reason, and it aint ancient history, its 1974… my family and many others are still refugees from that little conflict). So unless Turkey is willing to give up on its little Cypriot adventure then its no EU for them.

I love diplomacy :diablo:

It seems a range of 10-15Km is perfect for the Persian Gulf, fit the *******s on the back of those fast gunboats the Iranians seem to have by the dozen and you have a very cheap, disposable 2006 era torpedo boat. Converge them on a battle group from all directions and fire away, preferably in the midst of an air strike/kilo attack and you stand a good way of getting through while all the warships are fighting off the air attack. It seems that this weapon is custom made for littoral warfare against a larger foe, though next to useless against the same foe in open ocean where his sensor range is multiplied and warning time is much greater

Maybe too far from the sea, but not too far from Iran. China or Russia could very easily collude with Iran on this little project. Especially if either of them where to offer Iran a big enough carrot (some S-300’s or a squadron of Mig-31’s for example).

Well if Turkey is interested in the caucus region and not in Greece or the mediterranean then there is a simple solution.. Get out of Cyprus, hand back Constantinople (theres no such thing as istanbul) and resolve the issues over the other Greek islands.. then Turkay can feel free to go and have its adventures in the caucus region and we Greeks and Cypriots wont care. We could all even be friends.

Oil isnt the only thing of value in a country that would merit invasion. Australia produces 40% of the worlds uranium, a good proportion of the worlds iron ore, coal and also has significant amounts of natural gas. As well as that it produces so much wheat and rice that it exports a goodly proportion of it to china and the middle east (yes thats right, we supply china with the majority of its rice) Australia is pretty much Asias breadbasket and raw materials center so its not going to far to think that someday someone may want to take rather than buy our resources. As well as that Australia has a hell of a lot of space… sure it has a lot of desert but it also has more farmable land than the entire of europe.

As for invading Australia though i would think that it is even going to be difficult for the United States short of using nuclear weapons. It has a proffesional , extremelly capable (if not small) defence force, plenty of space to trade for time and production capabilities for all matter of weaponary. Short of nuking us back into the stone age, the choice of wether to invade or trade with Australia is a no brainer. 🙂