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Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates
RAAF has lasers that shoot missiles
Hmm, this sounds very interesting, looks like the RAAF has stolen a march on the rest of the world.
Quote:
The Royal Australian Air Force Boeing Wedgetail, one of a fleet of five, can destroy incoming missiles with laser beams and track airborne targets up to 400km away while monitoring ground threats up to 100km away
From this article:
High-tech plane to scan for threats - The West Australian
Mightly impressive don't you think :rotfl
Hmm, this sounds very interesting, looks like the RAAF has stolen a march on the rest of the world.
Quote:
The Royal Australian Air Force Boeing Wedgetail, one of a fleet of five, can destroy incoming missiles with laser beams and track airborne targets up to 400km away while monitoring ground threats up to 100km away
From this article:
High-tech plane to scan for threats - The West Australian
Mightly impressive don't you think :rotfl
I'm guessing he was referring to the Wedgetail's DIRCM system?
Guess the RAAF can save a lot of money then not having to buy A2A missiles etc now. So when are they fitting these laser beams to the Hornets & Shornets?
1. We've got 6 of them. Not 5.
2. It is fitted with NEMESIS - DIRCM (Directed Infra-Red Counter-Measures) so I guess they are sort of vaguely correct. Except for the bit about being equipped with laser beams and being able to destroy missiles, that is...
3. Re: AWACS/AEW&C capability: and France, Israel, Singapore, Japan, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, South Korea and so on...
Otherwise pretty good article!
Andrew McL
New Member
Hi all - been a while
Just in my own defence re the Wedgetail article...
I didn't say the DIRCM can "destroy" an incoming missile. I said it could disable the seeker of an IR missile. GT obviously took some creative licence with that.
I didn't say anything about other countries...I said Wedgetail is the equal of and in some ways better than any other AEW&Cs such as the E-2 & E-3. :hitwall
We've ordered six Wedgetails, but only five have been delivered to date. One is still at Boeing in the US trying to get the ESM sorted.
I've made my displeasure at his judicious use of quote marks known.
Re the Super Hornet arrival the other day, actually 23 of our 24 Rhinos were generated...the four on delivery, the 16 formation jets, the handling display jet, plus two spare display and formation jets. One was in maintenance and was never going to be available.
Andrew
I wouldn't give it a second thought Andrew, most jurno's do well if they spell your name right
[ j/k] besides, I make a lot of allowances for your magazine that publishes Kopp's articles, you have enough trouble
so we have the 24 here now, I thought they were going to keep one in USA for our development needs with the USN.
It looks as if we have what we wanted and Boeing Aus is taking it from here on.
Interestingly the RAAF SH boss said we were going to run the SH differently than the USN
Australia impressed by Super Hornet performance
[ j/k] besides, I make a lot of allowances for your magazine that publishes Kopp's articles, you have enough trouble
so we have the 24 here now, I thought they were going to keep one in USA for our development needs with the USN.
It looks as if we have what we wanted and Boeing Aus is taking it from here on.
Interestingly the RAAF SH boss said we were going to run the SH differently than the USN
Australia impressed by Super Hornet performance
Andrew McL
New Member
Jack - we haven't run an article by Carlo since late 2004.
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Hey Andrew good to see you back. Not using the Magio handle anymore? I think it's still active?
I wasn't having a go at you earlier, just the numpty that wrote that article...
Hope everything is well?
Andrew McL
New Member
Hey AD (what happened to ADMkI?)
Not back permanently...these forums were taking up too much of my life and I had to make a clean break, but no doubt I'll check back occasionally if something's of interest.
I wasn't sure if 'Magoo' was still active, but one of the haters over at Ares accused Magoo and Jackjack of being the same person ( :eek ), so I thought it better to post under my own name and try to remain as uncontroversial as possible.
The "numpty" is usually a good writer, but he doesn't have any grounding in Defence and was in a hurry when he called me. I'll tell him that, in future, I'll only do it if I can fact-check the final draft.
Cheers
probably the same numpty who accused me of also being jack....
send me an email, I have some interesting chat for you - not to my work addy though.
Andrew McL
New Member
Hey GFsend me an email, I have some interesting chat for you - not to my work addy though.
Sorry mate, don't have your email anymore...got a bit slack during a laptop upgrade last year.
Can you send to mine? magoo19au at yahoo.com.au
Had to temporarily close down the AD moniker. Some internet stalker made me the object of his ire for a while and so I had to change some things around...
An Internet stalker of the non-APA variety for a change, so at least it was something different...
I saw your article about your blog time a few months back so I get where you're coming from.
Interesting that RAAF managed to prepare 23 Super Hornets the other day, I wonder where no.24 was?
Shiver ran down my spine reading that remembering all the vitriol and spite I was subjected to as that event was explained to me from the other side. That particular crew were never nice people to anyone who did not bow down and worship them and their ideas.
Yeah that guy has got more than a few issues (aka - a complete fruitcake). I try to stay clear of his particular brand of idiocy.
He uses multiple handles and then accuses others of being the same person. At one stage he seemed to believe you, Gary, Abe, Jackjack and I were all rhe same person. He is nuttier than squirrel excrement but anyhoo, enough of that lunatic.
The Magoo handle should still work fine and has the Def Pro privileges...
Where do all of the cynics get all of this false information with the F-35? When I read the legitimate media there is nothing but praise for the aircraft from the ground crews to the pilots involved despite a few gremlins. Are the cynics going to listen to the tech sergeants in the hangars or to the not so hidden agenda journalists sitting at desks no where near any of the aircraft?
Yes, there have been some delays with the program, but name one new fighter aircraft program which hasn't had any delays? I know of none...
As for the politically minded cynics, I recall the Samoan debacle of the late 1880s when a US wooden hull square rigged steamer warship was totally outclassed by German and British ironclad warships. After this debacle the US decided to build modern warships having not bought any since the end of the Civil War twenty years earlier... A steel navy which by the way won the Spanish-American War within the next ten years...
Technology moved incredibly in twenty years during the late 1800s. One must be blind and deaf to think technology doesn't advance more quickly now in the twenty-first century... The US let their navy rot during the nineteenth century, lets not do the same with our air force and naval aviation now...
Yes, there have been some delays with the program, but name one new fighter aircraft program which hasn't had any delays? I know of none...
As for the politically minded cynics, I recall the Samoan debacle of the late 1880s when a US wooden hull square rigged steamer warship was totally outclassed by German and British ironclad warships. After this debacle the US decided to build modern warships having not bought any since the end of the Civil War twenty years earlier... A steel navy which by the way won the Spanish-American War within the next ten years...
Technology moved incredibly in twenty years during the late 1800s. One must be blind and deaf to think technology doesn't advance more quickly now in the twenty-first century... The US let their navy rot during the nineteenth century, lets not do the same with our air force and naval aviation now...
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Tee_Centre_10
Member
Can we say that the F-35 is the Collins-class of the US? I think it has become quite the partisan object and a useful political tool.
Whenever I read these stories I always ask "If it is too expensive and not good enough, what is their alternative?". Truly, there isn't one.
So if the F-35 is "outclassed", what is the alternative before the Hornets reach their end of life? This is not only true for the RAAF but the US as well. They can keep on churning out F-15/16/18 fighters indefinitely, slowly improving and refining with each iteration, and they will be a formidable force, but eventually the PAK-FA/J-20/S-400 or even something else entirely is going to be fielded by a potential adversary. Even if it isn't superior, it would be of concern for military planners.
The F-35 costs do hurt though, and is always a convenient counter-argument. But the $250 billion cost of the program over the expected 35 years from 2001 - 2035 pales when compared to the thought of how much money (real and notional) the US has pissed against a wall to little or no purpose over the last decade.
The argument is that it would cost less to cancel the F-35, despite the fact the aircraft is almost finished. Let us say for argument's sake that an advanced teen-series fighter costs half a F-35 (not that we really know what a full production F-35 costs yet). So for roughly 2400 US fighters:
F-35 (50 for dev + 200 for production) = $250 billion.
Continued teen series: (50 for F-35 dev + 100 for production) = $150 billion.
New LO fighter: (50 for F-35 dev + $Y for F-XX dev + $Z for F-XX production) = Unknown amount well over $250 billion.
So to save $100 billion or so over 25 years (or save nothing at all on a F-XX) they want to cancel what will be the most important defence program of the last or next decade? It is one thing canceling DDG(X) or CG(X) or Crusader or EFV or FCS or even maybe the LCS or JLTV, as I would consider many of these to be "gold-plated" capabilities, but I think the airpower of the F-35 is one system that promises to superpass how past fighter were employed.
Todjaeger
Potstirrer
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #2,859
A few things to point out and keep in mind. The F-35 programme is projected to run until somewhere in the 2050-2065 timeframe, potentially. This is where some of the huge cost projections come from, since there is also expected to be a significant increase in fuel costs over the next half-century.
As for the F-35 detractors... By and large, they seem to be a collection of people who have their own respective agendas, and the F-35 is not a part of their different agendas, and therefore the F-35 is 'bad.'
IMO a fairly clear sign of this, is the frequency with which the various detractors will accuse defence and industry personnel of toting the LockMart 'party line' in terms of F-35 performance, and/or keeping quiet after being pressured by Defence/LockMart about the F-35. They often seem to accuse Defence/LockMart of a conspiracy about the F-35, simply because there has not been a huge list of F-35 failures or capability shortfalls...
This logical failure and lack of rationality is why such detractors tend to get little respect here at DT at this point. Their bias, or their inability to see how outmoded and irrelevant their arguments are, tend to cause them to look at platform engagements as they would have been in the 1980's or earlier, from what I have observed. Now, a properly equipped and trained force acts as a cohesive system, instead of just a collection of individual platforms. Given the massive growth in C4ISR capabilities, the battlespace of today and especially tomorrow, can look very different than what the battlespace was expected to resemble when many of the current fighters were being spec'd out as programme requirements.
-Cheers
I read that the US has completed their review
now I read from Australian Aviation that we have a team over there conduction our review.
Hopefully we will know soon know whether delivery times will meet our risk needs or we will have to consider further stop gaps
Australian F-35 program review underway
Australian F-35 program review underway | Australian Aviation Magazine
(I recently subscribed to AA free express, I found it worth while)
now I read from Australian Aviation that we have a team over there conduction our review.
Hopefully we will know soon know whether delivery times will meet our risk needs or we will have to consider further stop gaps
Australian F-35 program review underway
Australian F-35 program review underway | Australian Aviation Magazine
(I recently subscribed to AA free express, I found it worth while)