Ground Based Air Defence

[Taj]

I went into the Careers fair in Croke Park over the weekend specifically to see what sort of a display the Defence Forces had-was a little dissapointed that they were not given as much space as last year in the RDS,but I was delighted to be given a qiuck demonstration of the firing of an RBS-70.Sitting in the firing position I was talked through everything from target acquisition,to firing the missle and in flight guidance and I have to say its a very impressive piece of kit.
But do we have enough? The Army personnell were of the opinion that it is only a matter of time before Air Defence regiments are deployed in support of overseas operations.
Also does anyone have any opinions on the EL-70/Flycatcher system?Apparantly they are "too good" having destroyed all target drogues?!

[Guinness]

Taj,

give us one good reason why Ireland realy need equipment like this.
Your country is defended in the south,east and noth by UK air defence and when the "enemy" comes from the west everything will be intercepted by the USAF and RAF who wil see them commin' via E-3B's and sattelites.


Guinness

[Joey d]

Guinness,

Given that mentality, whats the point of having a Defense Forces at all? You remind me of the government!

[sealion]

Well as any good smelly crusty will tell you..If we had no armies there would be no wars.... '>

[Guinness]

Joey,

it's not about the defence force we're talking about but Air Defence.
Your history shows there IS a need for armed forces but the only thing I'm trying to say is that IF Ireland is attacked by air, other parties WILL defend you.

Guinness

[pilatus]

iv heard bought the flycatcher system anybody know bout its range or how high it can scan?

[Taj]

Guinness,
Dont look at this from the point of view of "foreign invader" doomsday scenarios-without air cover a ground based system is of minimal value realistically.Think about this from the point of view of a terrorist in a light plan gate-crashing a meeting of EU ministers/heads of state.
From talking to the Air Defence Regiment officer at the weekend their main purpose is to secure the airspace around airports for EU summits,visiting foreign heads of state etc.OK we deploy our RBS-70's to defend the airports but do we then have enough to also secure the summit venues?I think not.
If the venue for the summit is Dublin Castle-then a gun based system is useless.
We are a country that has no interception capability except a piston engined trainer armed with GPMG's and unguided rockets flying CAP missions.Can we defend with even 75% certainty against a determined terriost flying a light aircraft packed with high explosives.
Hence the need to expand our capabilities in this area-even moderately.

[John K]

Guiness, if there was a reciprocal agreement with the other forces you mention it wouldn't be too bad, but never has any agreement been written regarding other countries defending Ireland for nothing! But with the Irish Army more involved with UN duties, there must be a requirement at the least to be able to transport their own troops by their own helicopters, or at least train them in helicopter operations, which they would certainly get involved in. As for the IAC getting front line fighters, can the country afford them? If they joined NATO the US could build a big fat base beside Athlone and defend the whole country, and just think of all those US Airmen/Marines spending their money! It could be a major boost to the economy!

[n-e-foo]

Looking up some specs for the flycatcher radar. I think the Army have got the Mk1 version, which has a range of 20km. Looking up the Giraffe radar, they have a range quoted between 60- 100 km distance.... hell of a difference.

The two armys that came up for both searches were the Venezuala and Pakistan....  go figure.

If I was a conspiracy theorist I'd speculate theres a treaty with forces foreign to look after our airspace above 15,000 feet, in return for overflights... based on our equipment, or lack thereof.

But I'm not '> The stuff we get is cheaper due to its limited range... simple..

[Guinness]

John,

I suppose you're right on the helicopters.
Ireland needs them if only flying rock apes around and use them in UN duties ( the UH-60 will do, thank you)

About the "Treaty".... you don't need that.!!!!
Let's face it.
The UK doesn't want any invaders on their western border so they WILL do everything to prevent that !!
You happend to live on one of the most important ( strategicly) places in Europe.... the rock called Ireland.

The same is with Iceland.....the USAF have a massive big ass base on there.
For you economy it wouldn't be bad to have a USAF base on the Isle but it will never happen.  why?
The "game" isn't played in Europe anymore but further east, south-east.
For this reason the US are willing to take countries like Hungary, Romania, Poland a.s.o. in NATO.
Even former Soviet states can join now
They can use their bases for support the troops.

This is one of the reasons why the USAF are clossing a few of their massise bases in Germany, Holland and the UK.

Guinness