NZ A4-K Skyhawks will return to the skies

[jasonu]

A Vampire flew above me today in Wanganui. Sounded great!

[Pussy]

Priminister

Prime Minister.

The Kahu upgrades unfortunately made the Scooters a bit nose heavy.
Not able to pull as many G as original... otherwise the nose section would fall off!
The A4K is still, however, a good aeroplane for us. Too bad that won't happen again.

[Hinny]

1960's tech. close air support perhaps but any jihadi with a Stinger can take one down. We should have picked up the F-16's we were offered.

You do realise you are advocating buying stolen property.
Pick up all your best deals down at the pub I suppose.

[awa355]

Has anything replaced them yet?

The gummermint is working on plans as we read this. .

[avgas]

Having a squadron of maritime strike aircraft was the rationale behind no longer requiring a 4 frigate navy when it came time to replace the Leanders with the Anzacs.

I still suspect there was lots of budget behind that. Similar crap happened on the ground.

They got a full squad of these



instead of a few of them and a few of these



Even though we live in a place surrounded by water and they usually shoot missiles and planes at countries now.......and we have no defensive air force.

Are they expecting the C-wiz to save the whole country?

[Robert Taylor]

Of course the Army has had way too much sway in what has gone on over the last 14 years or so and the jokes on them with the purchase of those lemons called LAVs.
That we dont have a fully equipped Air Force and that we effectively freeload to a huge degree off the Australians for regional security is a national disgrace.
The argument is that we cannot afford it. Well, if we stopped handing out hundreds perhaps thousands of million of dollars to keep topping up ( on many assumptive pretences )the blame culture in perpetuity we'd be a lot better off as ONE nation rather than an apartheid based one. If the Government ( any Government ) strongly based the money supply not on speculation but on people that will actually do something productive for the export economy ( and carry people along with them ) that would be largely positive. As would correcting one of Governments biggest failures, not collecting gst on EVERYTHING that crosses the border, the gst that is not being collected ( and remember this is not creating a new tax ) must be huge. Sustainable mining and oil, lets go for it hammer and tong and earn some real revenue. It always amuses me with the Greens, they want all the social services in the world but want to stop all the means of funding same
In a future event of having to defend our national sovereignty ( and who will stand up and say 100% that it will never ever happen in an increasingly unstable world ) what good are ground forces without overhead air cover ? We should always show that we have the intent to defend ourselves rather than looking as resigned weaklings. As a sea locked nation with huge territory it makes perfect sense that our major focus should be the senior service ( Navy ) and a major upscaling of Air Force capability in both surveillance and strike capability. Moreover the infrastructure should always be there in place, something that Helen Clark deliberately and callously removed to satsify her shonky pacifist CV for her long term endeavours to cosy up to her communist mates in the UN.
To that end I hope that ugly bitch burns in hell in perpetuity. And I for one am going that way when I die to be a stoker to make sure of that.

[nadroj]

We have already been invaded by immigrants, and our biggest threat to national security will be via the internet!

[Robert Taylor]

We have already been invaded by immigrants, and our biggest threat to national security will be via the internet!

Immigrants that work, contribute something useful to society and will totally assimiliate themselves into the Kiwi lifestyle I have no problem with.
Yes you are bang on about the internet and its sad that many cannot see the damage it is in many ways doing
But hey this thread is about A4s and its heartening to know that I am not alone in thinking that we should still have a credible Air Force

[jonbuoy]

Immigrants that work, contribute something useful to society and will totally assimiliate themselves into the Kiwi lifestyle I have no problem with.
Yes you are bang on about the internet and its sad that many cannot see the damage it is in many ways doing
But hey this thread is about A4s and its heartening to know that I am not alone in thinking that we should still have a credible Air Force

US seems to be using drones for air strikes these days anyway. No need for large carriers or errors from human pilots.

[Bonez]

US seems to be using drones for air strikes these days anyway. No need for large carriers or errors from human pilots.

Who do think is controlling those suckers. Rudolf the reindeer?

[jonbuoy]

Computers mostly and not long before completely -I expect the only human input will be an authorise command.

[R6_kid:Me]

For anyone who missed it, the (T)A-4k's and Macchis that were sold to the US are back in the air.

I had a look at the company that owns them, they have more fighter aircraft than a lot of air forces in the world :-S

[Hinny]

Of course the Army has had way too much sway in what has gone on over the last 14 years or so and the jokes on them with the purchase of those lemons called LAVs.
That we dont have a fully equipped Air Force and that we effectively freeload to a huge degree off the Australians for regional security is a national disgrace.
The argument is that we cannot afford it. Well, if we stopped handing out hundreds perhaps thousands of million of dollars to keep topping up ( on many assumptive pretences )the blame culture in perpetuity we'd be a lot better off as ONE nation rather than an apartheid based one. If the Government ( any Government ) strongly based the money supply not on speculation but on people that will actually do something productive for the export economy ( and carry people along with them ) that would be largely positive. As would correcting one of Governments biggest failures, not collecting gst on EVERYTHING that crosses the border, the gst that is not being collected ( and remember this is not creating a new tax ) must be huge. Sustainable mining and oil, lets go for it hammer and tong and earn some real revenue. It always amuses me with the Greens, they want all the social services in the world but want to stop all the means of funding same
In a future event of having to defend our national sovereignty ( and who will stand up and say 100% that it will never ever happen in an increasingly unstable world ) what good are ground forces without overhead air cover ? We should always show that we have the intent to defend ourselves rather than looking as resigned weaklings. As a sea locked nation with huge territory it makes perfect sense that our major focus should be the senior service ( Navy ) and a major upscaling of Air Force capability in both surveillance and strike capability. Moreover the infrastructure should always be there in place, something that Helen Clark deliberately and callously removed to satsify her shonky pacifist CV for her long term endeavours to cosy up to her communist mates in the UN.
To that end I hope that ugly bitch burns in hell in perpetuity. And I for one am going that way when I die to be a stoker to make sure of that.

And who is going to identify whom we should use these forces against?

As Nadroj says 'we have been invaded'.

[gunnyrob]

I wonder why the t-bird has deployed its' RAT?

[Bonez]

For anyone who missed it, the (T)A-4k's and Macchis that were sold to the US are back in the air.

ONE TA4K is flying-NZ6252 the next up will be a "model". Probably just testing the various systems out Rob. It was "52s" first flight back in the air.