Transport Aircraft

[Silver]

(N.B. I'm being 'devils advocate' here ........)

Would a transport aircraft (e.g. C130) provide value for money for the Air Corps/country ?

Yes, it could be used for humanitarian aid, troop transport, etc.,

However, would it spend a large amunt of it's time simply parked on the ramp in Baldonnel ?  


(An article in todays Sunday Indo about our lack of such an aircraft quotes a politician as saying that such an AC transport aircraft "would spend 360 days of the year on the ground")

[Spook]

A capability to deploy the proposed  disaster reaction corps would be needed to make it work.Such a corps would need to be able to deploy at short notice without looking to hire a commerical carrier.Apart from this, such a transport capability would earn its keep dealing with irish forces oversees on peacekeeping duties.As for the comments by politicians,lets face it in a lot of cases their knowledge is a bit dubious.
So roll on L100/C130 or C295/C27  

[SousaTeuszii]

Hi all,
I think that a C130 etc would be of use for logistical support but that is all. Troop rotations or transport of disaster relief personnel would be a non runner. Can you imagine the flight to Liberia sitting sideways on a canvas seat in a noisy hull for hour after hour! These aircraft would only be of use for short european hops with self loading cargo or longer runs with 'quiet' cargo. To be honest I do not think that a C130 could haul any useful load during the early stages of deployment setup and would it really be required during normal operations?
The only way that I could see it being of use is as an in theatre supply, medivac or evacuation aircraft. However as the White Paper negates the basing of aircraft overseas this will never happen. At home we have no use for such an aircraft and it would sit on the ramp waiting for that big day to be used, and then it would probably be on maintenance