I can't see the Air Corps getting any equipment whose use cannot be directly linked to a clear operational need, so interceptors or AH-64/gunship types seem "Alice in Wonderland" stuff to me unless the traditional "peacekeeping" role is to be ditched in favour of something more robust.
The Tornado is actually in the process of gradually being replaced by its principal users and is of course a 1960s/1970s design - in any case what the IAC would ever need such a type for is beyond me. Nuclear strike, airfield attack or anti-shipping missions are, I think, I bit beyond our foreseeable requirements!
I'd love to see the IAC with some serious equipment and the recent visits here of Austrian C-130s should have given some people food for thought. At least there would be some rationale for a transport and maybe enhanced patrol/rescue capability and the Austrians are unlikely to have had to pay "top dollar" for these airframes, which though built in the 1960s have been well-maintained and must be good for many more years' service.
It's interesting that the USA has hundreds, nay thousands, of surplus military aircraft in storage in the Arizona desert which in many cases are available to friendly nations - even Iraq is getting some at the moment. Yet Ireland always opts for small quantities of brand-new equipment when perhaps it could have greater numbers of less sophisticated aircraft - say, 10-15 UH-1s ( a battle-proven classic, still in service in large numbers with the US forces) instead of the new but relatively unproven AB-139s - food for thought???
