Transport Aircraft

An before that we even had the french and spanish at various times in our history trying to help us

That's the plan.

Certain parties want an end to the policy of neutrality. What better way to do so than to make us so reliant on foreign military for everything that our stated neutrality is declared null and void.

There is zero pressure from PESCO and there never will be. The U.K. has to cover us because they can’t afford not to but after a hundred years I’m sure they’ve given up hoping we might step up.

Our response to that was to have zero involvement in current PESCO projects, apart from those we were already observers on.

I slightly disagree with you and think 2/3 Casa 295 Military spec would be ideal for us for day to day transport needs. It makes sensce ecomically pilots, crew and maintaince. If we wanted heavy air lift we should give the germans a call about joining there A400M program

https://www.janes.com/amp/germany-to-form-a400m-multinational-air-transport-unit-with-hungary/ZnlJK3dHVU9mZ28xajRJVkc5dVI5VFp1cVMwPQ2

Repatriation flights now needed for Irish citizens in morocco, id hate to be the civil servant making the begging phone calls to the France/UK

More than likely the UK pumas will be replaced by the AW149 otherwise lenonardo will close there yeoivil plant. So the british governenment will be forced to buy them. So i wonder would there be an oppertunity for the defence forces to add to that order for replacing the air corps 139s in the future?

I taught i read in the examiner or times a while back that 139 fleet life span had being halfed due to the 112 role and firefighting

I read something to that effect also. There was a notional usage of the type based on commitments at the time. (mostly training, occasional troop transport for exercise). It was never expected they would be doing dedicated Air Ambulance for this duration. Frequent use of Bambi Bu cket has also played havoc with the EC135s expected lifespan. They were only ever supposed to be for pilot training, now pilots are training in the US as the EC135 can't provide the necessary training hours to keep everyone current and train new pilots.

Though it has to be asked by did we go from 14 helis to just 8 in one go and expect to maintain the same operational tempo.

There must be sone strain on the 139 fleet doing the role of 112. They seam to be going to call outs a few times a day and landing in rough spots where damage and extra wear and tear will happen compare to landing on nice concrete heli pads

I notice possibly no IAC around today? R116 from Dublin did a tasking from Cork Airport to Newcastle in the UK.

We should never be a launch customer. When our AW139 was delivered, we were the first military customer. There wasn't even a military option in the brochure, instead it was "law enforcement".

How do we keep getting sucked into the same trap?

The 2 Gazelle should have been replaced with 2 EC135, fair enough.

The 8 AIII with 6 EC145 (a type which our heli pilots are training on currently, the transition from a 135 being relatively straightforward.)

The Dauphin which failed to demonstrate how a small 5T heli could do a multitude of tasks, should have been replaced by 2 types. 2 wildcat aboard ship (deck not set up for Seahawk) and 4 More on land.

I firmly believe if they enraged re retired commandant enough, his ticker would give up and there would be no more protest.

The only officer in the defence forces who ordered bayonets to be fixed against Irish citizens, engaging in protest. Thankfully there was a garda there who was able to defuse things before it got out of hand.

You cant leave that story like that !

We should have bought Blackhawks. Ministers like being flown around in AW139s, it reminds them of the ubiquitous A109s of the Celtiic Tiger days. Don't think they would be so fond of a proper support helicopter like a Blackhawk