Fighter jets for the Air Corps?

The RAF equipment plan is seeing all their Tranche 1 Typhoons up for retirement at average of about 42% airframe use.

Tranche is basically A2A variant with near zero ground attack capability. Similar to Austrian variant that they are looking to get rid of. Long Range, twinjet and updated as far as the tranche 1 can be.

Our Air policing needs could be met with a squadron of those, and our air transport gap filled with 2 of their soon to be retired C130J's.

Brexit is going so poorly, if we leave it a while to make an offer we could probably get the lot for a few container loads of rice!

There's even a handy little sales brochure 😉 covering everything but the Typhoons.

Interesting that they are claiming the Sig Sauer is suitable for crowd control 😮

Which is why they're been retired with over 50% of airframe time left.

What's your point?

Agree re the Tranche 1s, the suggestion in my post re those is partially tongue in cheek. It is an aircraft that on paper, ideally fits our needs. Twin engine, well equipped and with sufficient range and redundancy for extended overwater OPs.

The Austrians should never have bought them, but in our case? Were we actually even flying LIFT or replacing existing fighters, they'd certainly be an option.

I've made my feelings clear on the Herc over on the transport thread. It's a capability gap that we have known about for years and that has been glaringly exposed over the past 18 months with PPE flights and then the sojourn to Kabul.

The Casa is what we will get, but the capability of a 295 imo still leaves us short.

The switch to any type of fast jet ops from where we are now? Is as many here have already posted, a matter of political will, fiscal investment and a change of Aer Corps/DF culture that will likely mean it'll never happen. Ideally a lessons learnt report will hammer home how desperately needed Transport is and that will open eyes to the Air policing and Heli issues too.

Just read a summary there and about to give it a listen.

Disgusting revelations.

And no Typhoons thanks, absolute money pits.

second lieutenants start off on 32K plus a 5.5K allowance. Pay for a 1st lieutenant is up to to 47K plus allowances. captains start at 48K and go up to to 60K plus allowances. No idea where you got 29,850 from. that is closer to a sargeant's pay.

if you are interested in information on pilot retention you can start here

interesting read

Fighter aircraft may be the least of the Air Corps problems, but they could provide a way to counter the manpower issue somewhat.

I mean, let's be honest, how many career opportunities are there in the Air Corps today? Flying the PC-9 as an instructor is pretty much the pinnacle of a flying careers as far as I can see. Apart from that, it's mostly transport missions or VIP shuttles in civilian or near civilian aircraft, and many aircraft charter outfits offer better pay and conditions. Flying a PC-12 on the umpteenth test sample run to Munich or to pick up some liaison staff in Brussels is hardly challenging. I have huge respect for the Air Corps and its staff, both enlisted, NCOs and officers, but there's just not much of a challenge.

Granted, fighter aircraft alone won't solve that issue but a larger, more diverse Air Corps with more challenging flying assignments and more career and leadership opportunities both in flying and non-flying roles could go a long way towards making the organisation a much more attractive employer.

Sod the challenge, its a duty. Don't you think they'd rather be operating in a safe environment than in a conflict zone, on a long tour? Like every job, variety is limited after a while.

Its not like flying Ryanair 738s back and forth to Beauvais is going to be a thrill a minute.

As for manpower, well, there may come a time where the needs of the State outweigh the vagaries of the economy and the jobs market and some sort of national service may need to be introduced.

According to documentation mentioned above and various news articles. It's taking up to 4 years to train a pilot. This ia a major problem (we're not even talking about advanced planes here, this is effectively elementary flying school)

In most air forces it's taking 2-3 years (roughly) to train and that point you report to a squadron. (Note at that point, it will take at least another 2 years flying with that squadron for you to become "dangerous" to the enemy)

The wages need to be upped, and not just in the Air Corp, across the entire Defense forces.

The ships we have cannot be crewed to due to lack of medics and Chef's of all things (I know for a fact that most of the ships out at sea atm are being crewed by Army Paramedics not Navy Paramedics).

It all boils down to money/wages. The problem is so substantial with regard the lack of trainers, that the Defense forces may need to look to the private sector to train pilots.

I'd just like to go on record saying that, I thought the Helicopter doing the fire fighting in Howth there a few months back did an amazing job. They were working for a very long time to try and get it under control. If they had not have been there, the situation may have gotten way more out of control than it already was.

We have to pay these people, simple as.

Irish Air Corp pilots take 15 months to get their wings. where are you getting 4 years from?

Like putting Karen and her 6 kids in their 'forever home'!!!! 🙄

Interesting ball park figures for for costs.

Croatia buys second hand Rafales from France (France24.com)

Croatia on Thursday signed a deal to buy 12 French Rafale fighter jets worth nearly 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) that officials said will considerably strengthen its air force amid lingering tensions in the Balkans.

The contract for the used combat aircraft was signed during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Croatia. It was the first visit by France’s head of state to Croatia since it split from the former Yugoslav federation in the 1991-95 war.

“The purchase of the planes strategically is what we see as a game changer for Croatia,” Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at a joint press conference with Macron after the signing ceremony.

“This will not only give us the ability to avert those who have any aspirations toward our territory but also to become the so-called exporters of security … of stability in southeastern Europe,” he said.

I know Croatia has its own infrastructure already, having operated MiG-21s from the Soviet era, but in terms of getting a modern fast jet force it is a good guide.

If somehow the CoDF said as part of there recomendations that the state should get in to Air Defence game and the french offered us a Rafale deal. Would the Rafale be to much fire power for what we need?