Transport Aircraft

I think they wanted to but had no takers. The buyers were probably afraid they would get aussie built ones. Remember they have not a great rep when it comes to building stuff look what they did to the Styer

To be fair, they would likely bring hardware themselves even if we had some equipment, I mean my Godfather was one of Foreign Affairs go to drivers and was involved in plenty of those trip of visits (from the Pope to Clinton), pretty much all brought something. Not that that changes how badly equipped we were.

That being said, bare in mind what level of funding we are talking about, looking at one of the other articles from the State Papers there's this:

Even with a decade plus (and not a great period for the economy to put it mildly), the state's finances were beyond tiny.

Or perhaps someone pointed out what could have been needed for boarding hostile ships? Or in connection to the suggestion of the ARW segment moving to Haulbowline?

That’s my thinking of it tbh as well, or some variation of that, though given they have practiced boarding ships before you would have thought that it would have come up?

Never go full Jonny...😋

Also you can it Force Dolphin and how long before they are all called Fungie?

Leave it as it is. With an air sea and land component suffix.

According to the detailed plan the extra Medium helicopters are due to be delivered by Q2 next year. More than likely they will be AW139s .

Leonardo at the Moment say it takes 20 months for a SAR aircraft to be delivered and it took 18 Months for the poles to get there 1st helicopters of leonardo are we looking at maybe leased helicopters to make delivery dates unless new builds are ordered by next month?

Good man Leo full of good ideas

They have a sort of get out jail card in that the tender said

ESTIMATED VALUE (EUR):45,400,00

So they could turn around and say the market as said the plane will cost 96 million

One of the many articles below over the learjet the last few days. The article has leo saying its not relieable to bring him to the balkans but it appears its good enoght to work as an air ambulance.

If its as bad as they make out it should be taken out of service straight away. What happens if a sick child is being transported for a time critical operation and the learjet breaks down as it taxis to the runway?

They have used it but its a fair excuse, I doubt there are many governments flying around in one engine aircraft. There is the new CASA though, but both are short on range. The Learjet probably would have been fine but they have the excuse now to spend €30k to charter a Falcon, and no one seems to be kicking up a fuss.

Slovakia, similar population to us with 1/5 of the GDP and the government have 2 private A319's. Putting the red carpet up to PC-12 for international meetings really isn't a good look. But its all down to their own dithering for far too long.

No leaks on the goverment jet yet. I taught one of the sundays would have had something.

I notice the air corps are giving the learjet alot of coverage in social media about its air ambo role.

Elephant in the room is that the Lear will also need replacing no matter what is selected. The current tender is a GIV replacement.

The PC24 seems to be a good fit for the shorter haul work the Lear was bought for.

If they had budgeted an extra €5-€10m they could have done a full MATS fleet replacement and have 2 brand new jets and be done with it for the next 20 years. The Falcon 6X for long hops and the PC24 for short hops. As you say a lot of commonality with the PC12 and has proven to work very well as an air ambulance.

This makes way too much sense for the govt though, they'll get the new jet and still complain the Lear is breaking down and use the Falcon or Gulfstream or whatever it is on short hops.