Ireland considering jet fighters

Government considering purchase of military jet aircraft

The Government is considering the purchase of military jet aircraft that would have the capacity to intercept high-altitude planes and fully police Irish skies.

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Earlier this year Maj Gen Ralph James, who retired as head of the Air Corps in 2015, said the State would need about 16 jet fighters with three crews each to implement a full air-defence capability.

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A jet programme of this kind would likely cost well in excess of €1 billion.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland ... -1.4289801

And an explanation from UK Defence Journal about the current situation over Emerald Island's airspace:

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/ireland ... -fighters/

As said above, Ireland lacks aircraft that can climb high enough or go fast enough to intercept Russian aircraft. As a result, Ireland and the UK have an agreement to allow British combat aircraft to overfly the Republic.

If they do pull the trigger on the decision to go with fast jets we'll most likely have another (used) F-16 vs Linköping Unicorn type of standoff at our hands.

If they do pull the trigger on the decision to go with fast jets we'll most likely have another (used) F-16 vs Linköping Unicorn type of standoff at our hands.

I fully agree with your assessment above.
Moreover Ireland also has great relations with the USA, so I would say that if Ireland will procure any fighter aircraft fleet then they will likely be used F-16 (perhaps updated to the latest variant, the F-16V).

Unless hell freezes over Ireland will never get fighter jets.

If they do pull the trigger on the decision to go with fast jets we'll most likely have another (used) F-16 vs Linköping Unicorn type of standoff at our hands.

I fully agree with your assessment above.
Moreover Ireland also has great relations with the USA, so I would say that if Ireland will procure any fighter aircraft fleet then they will likely be used F-16 (perhaps updated to the latest variant, the F-16V).

I believe Norway is looking for a buyer for a bunch used F-16A/B MLU's. One careful owner...

Unless hell freezes over Ireland will never get fighter jets.

Textron?

Any chance they can get their hands on the Typhoon Mk 1s the Brits were trying to get rid of? A2A only makes sense.

Also reduces EU pressure + buys time to train jet pilots whilst they consider something permanent (like those 6Gs).

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Also reduces EU pressure + buys time to train jet pilots whilst they consider something permanent (like those 6Gs).
...

EU pressure to buy from non-EU nation?
If there really was "EU pressure" they'd be buying brand new EF2000 from "Eurofighter GmbH". Then again one EU member called France might object to that...


Ireland might be one of those mythical countries that are in the market for many adcanced-trainer-turned-light-fighter projects that were supposed to be popular but in reality are not.

KAI Golden Eagle might make sense:
1) Phase I - purchase a squadron of "fitted for but not with" T-50s to train the pilot corpus
2) Phase II - upgrade said T-50s to FA-50s for actual air police duties

How about the Austrian typhoons then? Also almost new mk 1s, and definitely less of an issue to resell to Ireland than Indonesia.

Most likely buying FA-18 E/F mwahahahhahahahhahahah

Unless hell freezes over Ireland will never get fighter jets.

This is spot on.

It's not even worth speculation. There is zero space in the procurement budget, and no political will to increase the defence budget to provide money to buy fighters. It's not going to happen.

If the budget was increased there are many, many capabilities that would come long before fighter aircraft. More capable MPA, UAV's, Airlift, Sea lift, more OPV's, new eqpt for the Army, more helo's etc.

Basically you could double Ireland's $1bn defence budget (which won't happen) and for at least the first 10 year's that money would go to other procurement/expansion priorities ahead of combat air.

For reference New Zealand has roughly the same population as Ireland (4.8m to 4.9m respectively) with a far lower GDP ($204bn to $382bn, although Ireland's is massively artificially inflated by things like aircraft lessors being based in Ireland) but NZ's defence budget is 3 times bigger than Irelands ($2.75bn to $916m). New Zealand has far more capable combat forces but still can't afford combat air....