The result of any such invasion of the Ukraine would surely be disastrous for Russia, win or lose against Nato? that conflict would mean trade sanctions against Russia too and a much weaker Russian military.
Ah but would it? At present the West is all talk and bluster and stuff all else. What are sanctions going to do? They're not much better than a slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket. To be brutally honest, have they stopped Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela etc., from misbehaving? No and the people that have been hurt are the average fulla and fullahess on the street trying to put a roof over their head and food in their and their children's bellies. Sanctions imposed by the UN and the West are just a tool to help the pollies look good and look like they are doing something. Keeps the masses happy.
That they may, but the last time they tried anything with Russia they got taught a nasty lesson. The Soviets didn't play tiddly winks with their erstwhile socialist fraternal comrades.
Indeed. When Iraqi children were dying in hospitals because of a lack of equipment which were seen as dual purpose; the Baathists were still maintaining their lifestyle. Even pencils were banned from being imported by Iraq.
China can push around its neighbours except for Russia. The Russian nuclear force dwarfs China’s arsenal and Putin wouldn’t hesitate to use his if China threatened Russia. NK could also cause China some serious grief if relations go off the rails. However this is all unlikely for now at least.
Does Nato itself have sufficient forces to handle Russia, or have defence cuts affected thiers too?
Probably political resolve is a bigger problem for NATO than military resources, at least wrt Ukraine. Any Russian aggression towards Poland and the Baltic states is a different matter. Stuff would definitely hit the fan.
I have had to have a think before I replied to this post. Wayno hasn't really changed his spots. He's still advocating for no real increase in defence spending or capability. It's still a like for like; no more, no less. He fails to mention that the NATO requirement is for 2% of GDP to be spent on defence each year. For some reason that apparently has slipped his mind. He still thinks that annual defence expenditure of ~1% GDP is perfectly acceptable and that we only move to 1.5% GDP when we have large expensive equipment to procure.
Politics mainly, from the NZ side and usually the NZ Labour Party when it's in govt. In 2003, IIRC, the opportunity arose for NZ to participate in the RAAF C-130J acquisition which would've made sense and saved as a lot of treasure. But Helen Clarke refused to because she was on her anti Australian drive at the time. She dislikes Australians as much as she dislikes Americans.
Didnt we get the m41's in the early 60's and australia get the leopards mid 70's?
From my old and decrepit memory bank, the answer is yes you are right about this. and the M41's were second hand at the time and not new as were the extra mk5 Centurions we got in the 60's to add to the 3 Mk3's we already had that were procured as training tanks, so that our guys could be used in pom Centurions in Korea. I don't know if that ever happened.
That was the original plan, the NZ government had even purchased options on the C130J back in the 1990's and it will be no surprise as to who stopped that happening. there was even talk before the change in government at that time of increasing the number to 8 to make up for the loss of the Andovers.
Providing they aren't too knackered.
What naval variants?I reckon we should grab those naval versions as a replacement for our Seasprites just as we bought those of the aussies. Mates rates.
My question too.
Ah, I thought they'd had more modifications for naval use than that.? Nevermind, still they would be fairly new and seeing we already have NH90 and not having issue with them...
To be honest I don’t see how the RNZAF would gain much. The cost of the aircraft will be the cost of the aircraft. The cost of the spares will be the cost of the spares. Its probable you could have a more efficient package without having to double up on widget A, and you may get some savings as a result but it’s not likely to be huge when compared to whole program costs.
