Message posted by phil on September 01, 2004 at 1:37:56 PST:

G'day all,

Interesting to see our RAAF over there.
Our F-18's are also planned to receive a helmet mounted sight to make best use of the ASRAAM missile in the future as well.
Really though they need the centre fuselage re-bored to extend their lives as the F-35 is bound to be delayed in entering service here by a number of years well past the 2012 the misguided politicians claim.
Personally I thin the F-35 is unsuited for Australia as its too limited in terms of payload and range for our conditions.
The much vaunted stealth will be at a lower level too yet ironically that was one of the main raison d'etre of the choice in the first place.

Finally, the F-111 is derided by foolhardy media and political dropkicks, yet studies have shown that it could be upgraded still with the right work done to it.
Even now the maintainers who do deep level work on it acknowledge that it could last until 2020 with minimal effort.
I fear we're throwing away a proven plane still with potential left in it.

Roo cam etc, may be funny, but watch how well it does over there....
Thanks for the info mate
Regards from Tasmania, Australia

In Reply to: RAAF @ Red Flag 05-1.2 posted by CoyoteUgly on August 27, 2004 at 19:34:52 PST:

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