Forum: F-35 Lightning II

hcobb...... There are many uses for a standing army, one of them is homeland defence the other is gun boat diplomacy.

See the wiki's on Gunboat diplomacy and Hegemony.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunboat_diplomacy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony

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hcobb wrote:

Australian armed forces are mainly used to advance Australian policies, not defend the homeland.

Taking a random example: East Timor

Indeed. Shows how "at risk" we are strategically doesn't it? We can afford to send major force elements all round the world, without needing to keep these precious resources at home to fulfill their primary mission.

Nothwithstanding the current deployments, it is a fact that our defence forces are first and foremost intended for the defence of Australia.

Expeditionary capabilities are very much of secondary importance in our defence planning and as we do have a few runways here capable of operating fighter jets and not even a hint of Government approval to look to acquire any type of STOVL jet force (quite the opposite actually, what with the on-going diagnostic review of the NACC project as a whole and the Minister's Super Hornet comments) it seems as if those small allies will have to make do without Australian F-35b's to defend them/reclaim their islands...

SpudmanWP wrote:

That is a fully upgraded F-16 (tanks, pods, etc), not a baseline F-16.

And it should be noted that such an hypothetical 'estimate' would apply to an FY18 buy (give or take a year) also, and not an FY13, FY14 or FY15 buy. A fully equipped block 50++ (with AESA) would still come if substantially cheaper per unit, at the very least when compared to pre-FRP years.

Furthermore, the above noted 4:1 claims vs 'legacy' would likely not include the near-term block 50 MLU with AESA. And even if 4:1 claims were plausible in the first place, we're talking an operational block III F-35 (by around 2017-2018) and an F-35 armed with AT LEAST 4x externally mounted AMRAAM in addition to 4 internally mounted. In that case, the RCS would be highly compromised and as such, AWACS et al would allow for sufficient numerical over-powering vs any potentially 4:1 capable F-35 group.

Why would you handicap the F-35 with external stores?

Remember that this is a win:loss ratio that does not specify "in a single engagement".

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Australia needs surface attack