Australia buying up to four C-17s
And look at the equipment they will transport. And how soon the Aussies will be flying them.
...
The C-17 aircraft has the load capacity and range that will allow the ADF to rapidly deploy troops, combat vehicles, heavy equipment and helicopters. This includes the M1A1 Abrams Tank, as well as Black Hawk, Sea Hawk, and Chinook helicopters. Each C-17 has the capacity to transport five Bushmaster Infantry Vehicles, or three Tiger helicopters.
The fleet of up to four aircraft will give Australia a new Responsive Global AirLift (RGA) capability, significantly enhancing the ADF’s ability to support national and international operations, and major disaster rescue and relief efforts.
As the C-17 aircraft is currently in production, it is possible for the first aircraft to be delivered later this year with the balance of the fleet to be delivered by mid 2008. This will give the ADF the Responsive Global Airlift operating capability it needs within a short time-frame...
H/t to Fred who wrote at Norman's Spectator/FED FOLLIES/Comments:
This is how to do it...time for a wakey-wakey parade at the Brick Brain on the Rideau & a few more lessons from Mr. Howard for Mr. Harper.
Notice the dates...decision & delivery in about TWO years. Our HQ couldn't write a powerpoint presentation in two years.
Gotta love the Aussies.
...
The C-17 aircraft has the load capacity and range that will allow the ADF to rapidly deploy troops, combat vehicles, heavy equipment and helicopters. This includes the M1A1 Abrams Tank, as well as Black Hawk, Sea Hawk, and Chinook helicopters. Each C-17 has the capacity to transport five Bushmaster Infantry Vehicles, or three Tiger helicopters.
The fleet of up to four aircraft will give Australia a new Responsive Global AirLift (RGA) capability, significantly enhancing the ADF’s ability to support national and international operations, and major disaster rescue and relief efforts.
As the C-17 aircraft is currently in production, it is possible for the first aircraft to be delivered later this year with the balance of the fleet to be delivered by mid 2008. This will give the ADF the Responsive Global Airlift operating capability it needs within a short time-frame...
H/t to Fred who wrote at Norman's Spectator/FED FOLLIES/Comments:
This is how to do it...time for a wakey-wakey parade at the Brick Brain on the Rideau & a few more lessons from Mr. Howard for Mr. Harper.
Notice the dates...decision & delivery in about TWO years. Our HQ couldn't write a powerpoint presentation in two years.
Gotta love the Aussies.
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 10:45 a.m.
4 Comments:
Sigh - with a bit of envy. But then again, the Aussies don't have to feed Bombardier every step of the way.
Too frickin' true, John B.
It isn't so much the deployment that is in question IMHO. Because we can rent planes and ships to get into a place over time. The problem and reason for a heavy lift requirement is to get our troops out of a sticky position.
It would be alot harder to get a civilian company to fly into a hot LZ and extract our troops out of harms way. Not to mention the cost and time constraints that would come into place in a scenario like this.
I think Mark has it right -- strat-lift is enormously useful for getting troops into sticky situations. And birds like the C-17 can do so directly from greater distances -- even their base of origin, if air refueling is employed.
The other good reason would be that our future direct-fire AFV, the Stryker MGS, is not air-transportable by C-130 (IFV versions are, but the MGS is about 3,000lbs too heavy). Direct-fire support is a good thing in a firefight. And getting them there quickly -- by air -- beats having to wait a few weeks to ship them by sea.
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