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So remind me… why did we decommission the F-111?
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From Ares: Aussies prove the ‘Varks are still cool 
August 8th, 2008 | Fire for Effect | 12 Comments » You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
You realise that the Aussies are retiring the F-111s? That was their last conversion course for aircrew.
I’m glad that I’ve seen them do several dump-and-burns, it’s a great stunt.
http://www.airforce.gov.au/aircraft/f111.htm
Is it just me, are or Varks just flat out sexy.
Re: Why did we retire the ‘Varks?
Multiple choice:
a. Cold War Victory Dividends/Santayana’s Syllogism
b. Petty Politics
c. Boys-in-Blue Craving New Toys
d. Kreskin’s Theorem (“In the future…”)
e. Ignorance
Choose one of the above reasons for decommissioning the F-111/EF-111 and defend your position in 250 words or less. Points will be deducted for histrionics, shoddy grammar, and poor spelling.
Cheers,
Chief B.
Chief B.,
None of the above. The maintenance and manpower required to keep them flying was too high, so they retired them. The same reason we retired F-4 Wild Weasels.
George HW Bush,Sr.,Bill Clinton,George W Bush,Jr.,Dick Cheney,Donald Rumsfeld,& the rest of the Council for Foreign Relations NWO Neo-Con “Artists” really f**ked us all in the arse when they grossly emasculated our military(which really should be considered an act of treason for what they did).Well the Bear has woken up & is on the move.Today it’s Georgia,tomorrow it’s Azerbaijan & Turkmenistan.Pretty soon,Russia,with former Soviet Central Asian Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states,Iran,& Pakistan will be able to throw up an effective blockade over Afghanistan.
F-111s can’t protect themselves.
Re: Arcane
I’d venture that the maintenance costs are kinda irrelevant if you don’t have something to replace it. We’re left with just the very tired Prowlers until the EA-18s are produced in sufficient numbers to assume the mission.
It seems to my feeble old brain that we’re very much willing to spend a king’s ransom in manpower and maintenance for those aircraft we like, e.g., the B-2, but are not willing to do so for others even when they’re needed.
Cheers,
Chief B.
“Canada buys Russian kit” is a mis-nomer; the Canadians are just leasing Russian helicopters until it can get its own Chinooks or other helos into the Afghan theatre.
The reasons the F-111 was retired are for the following reasons in my opinion.
1) The original usage for the F-111 was as a light bomber. Something that was able to sneak in low and fast and hit its targets with precision. The variable geometry wings allowed for greater speed. We are designing more of our aircraft for a dual role as both Air Superiority and a ground attack role, meaning they can fight their way in, hit the target, and fight their way out, something the F-111 could not do.
2) Variable Geometry wings are nice but are being phased out. The only ones left are the Iranian F-14s, and the Russian made Su-24, Mig-23/27s. The design, while nice, has lost to the Delta wing shape.
3) It didn’t have stealth and that seems to be what needs to be with every combat aircraft we create from now forward.
it is a shame that the F-111s are going to be retired because all it took was for a couple of boffins in the defence force to convince the thed defence minister Dr. Brendan Nelson, someone who has had no military experience at all, that man has truly stuffed Australia as they are replacing the F-111s with F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters until the JSF F-35 Lightning II is completed and the only country that has the Super Hornet is the USA… it makes me wonder why they were the only country to have them as a part of their air force