It's not a bad return trip, when you look at the amount of activity out of Christchurch as probably the most "conveniant" location, a hop from Hobart is not a bad effort indeed, real pity we did not pick up the last of the white tails !!
Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates
IIRC it's 2,066 nm from Christchurch to Phoenix Field at McMurdo. If Invercargill was lengthened it would would probably be 1800 nm. Maybe it's because the natives in Christchurch are more friendly
A USAF C-17 returned from Phoenix Field last night. It must be close to, if not, the final summer flight.It's a real pity that the NZG baulked at acquiring a couple of the white tails as well.
A small article from APDR re flying things with / without a person in the loop.
Big dollars to be spent.
asiapacificdefencereporter.com
Not to much on detail but suggests this may change the force structure going forward.
Speculative only, but does this affect that forth mystery Sqn of F35's.
Appears aviation is in a dynamic place reinventing itself.
Could all go many ways
Regards S
Big dollars to be spent.
RAAF to spend $20 billion on uninhabited and uncrewed systems - APDR
This massive amount will be spent during the next 10 to 15 years, giving an indication of the magnitude of the move away from the current doctrine of always having a pilot in the loop.
asiapacificdefencereporter.com
Not to much on detail but suggests this may change the force structure going forward.
Speculative only, but does this affect that forth mystery Sqn of F35's.
Appears aviation is in a dynamic place reinventing itself.
Could all go many ways
Regards S
John Newman
The Bunker Group
This is not ‘new’ news. It’s just Kym Bergmann, editor of APDR, creating an article from existing information (must be trying to drive more traffic to his website?).A small article from APDR re flying things with / without a person in the loop.
Big dollars to be spent.
RAAF to spend $20 billion on uninhabited and uncrewed systems - APDR
This massive amount will be spent during the next 10 to 15 years, giving an indication of the magnitude of the move away from the current doctrine of always having a pilot in the loop.
Not to much on detail but suggests this may change the force structure going forward.
Speculative only, but does this affect that forth mystery Sqn of F35's.
Appears aviation is in a dynamic place reinventing itself.
Could all go many ways
Regards S
Have a read of this from the 2020 Strategic Update:
All of the projects mentioned in the article have been known about since mid last year.
As for the ‘4th Sqn of F-35’, you’ll notice that there is a budgeted project called ‘Additional Air Combat Capability’ in the list as well.
As the old saying goes “nothing to see here, move along”.
Cheers,
Gryphinator
Active Member
Upgrade at Cocos Keeling Island airport.
It's behind the paywall but it's for Prefab buildings to house self protection flares and maintainence facilities for the new Peregrines and the Poseidons.
It also states Townsville and Darwin will get the same to support those ops.
It's behind the paywall but it's for Prefab buildings to house self protection flares and maintainence facilities for the new Peregrines and the Poseidons.
It also states Townsville and Darwin will get the same to support those ops.
Thanks John
Had a good look at the fact sheet since it came out and I've tried to nut out what it will translate to in real terms.
Both platforms and costs.
Time will give that answer!
As to the article, I can understand the "sales pitch for APDR " comment, but I do have respect for the Author and so was prompted to think is there in fact something more to the piece than a recycling of what is already planned.
Again time will give the answer, but it may not be quite as ridged as the 2020 plans.
Thanks again
Regards S
John Newman
The Bunker Group
Mate, fair enough that you have respect for the current leadership of APDR, though for me it isn’t half the publication it used to be.
The publication has been going since the mid 1970s (different editorial team from memory), back then it was just PDR, no ‘Asia’ at the beginning of the title.
In fact I have boxes full of PDR and APDR magazines dating from the mid 70s in my garage, probably 20 years or so worth too.
I’ve probably also got 20+ years worth of Australian Aviation magazine in boxes too, dating from the 1970s too, back then when Jim Thorn started AA it was called ‘Australian Aviation & Defence Review’
Anyway APDR is not alone in not being what it used to be, AA certainly isn’t either.
Cheers,
PS, it’s probably time I spend some time in the garage going through all those boxes of defence and aviation mags and send them off for recycling!
Redlands18
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately both APDR and AA(defence wise) have fallen off in quality in the last decade.
John Newman
The Bunker Group
What’s even sadder is they still make defence reporting in the general media look bad.
Such is the very poor standard of defence reporting these days.
Takao
The Bunker Group
Add it to most of the blogs and think tanks. I was putting together a key actors list of organisations in the national security sector (from a reporting / thinking point of view, not manufacturers) and it offended me I had to put them most of them on. I think there is a good study there in influential =/= good.
Redlands18
Well-Known Member
Yes long gone are the days you could walk into a News Agents and there would be half a dozen Defence related Magazines mostly of decent quality.
As the old saying goes, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys... There is increasingly little money in publishing traditional media...
AI will revolutionise the way operations will be conducted in the future. As the article pointed out you won't really even need trained pilots to fly these things. You just have to tell it want you want it to do. You can apply this across the board to land vehicles and maritime vessels as well.A small article from APDR re flying things with / without a person in the loop.
Big dollars to be spent.
RAAF to spend $20 billion on uninhabited and uncrewed systems - APDR
This massive amount will be spent during the next 10 to 15 years, giving an indication of the magnitude of the move away from the current doctrine of always having a pilot in the loop.
Not to much on detail but suggests this may change the force structure going forward.
Speculative only, but does this affect that forth mystery Sqn of F35's.
Appears aviation is in a dynamic place reinventing itself.
Could all go many ways
Regards S
One of the dangers we are facing as a race at the moment is that AI technology may be advancing faster than our ability to understand and control it. Caution may be thrown out the window as we desperately try to apply this technology before any of our potential enemies do.
Things that still need to be nutted out would be the question of just how much autonomy would you grant an AI drone?
What happens if communications between the operator and drone are disrupted?
How secure are communications with the drone?
Could a drone be hacked?
Would you give a drone the ability to defend itself if it came under attack?
Would you trust an AI drone's judgement in certain combat situations?
Would you trust a drone in which humans were left out of the loop?
Are countries more likely to conduct incursions into other nation's airspace with expendable drones?
Will relatively cheap weapons systems lead to proliferation and an increased chance of conflict?
And finally ... would you be happy for AI to be controlled by other AI? The SkyNet scenario.
cdxbow
Well-Known Member
I can answer one of those questions, drones can and will be hacked. It's just a question of how hard you can make it. It's a potential problem with current manned platforms already as combat aircraft are now as much software as hardware. The USAF already tests how secure their aircraft are. U.S. Air Force Successfully Hacked By ‘Battalion’ Of 60 Hackers (forbes.com).
I believe that certain nations with different ethical values to the FVEY partners will be less likely to have the same ethical concerns about AI that FVEY, NATO nations, Singapore, Japan and South Korea etc., would. To me it's always going to be an ethical question about how much freedom of action AI is given. Get it wrong there is no way of putting that particular genie back in the bottle.
Redlands18
Well-Known Member
HMAS Richmond?
Great shot showing some of the issues extending the run way and turning it into a commercial airport. Thank god that argument is gone now. Its use as a military airbase is critical to Sydney, NSW and Australia.
Haha.. The RAAF will need those fast attack boats the Army is ordering.. A lot of people have water views now...
Well that's a water hazard and a half. Ah well off to the 19th what ho?