Austria Has No Business Flying These High-Performance Fighters

War is Boring ^ | Nov 2, 2014 | David Axe

[sukhoi-30mki]

[GeronL]

nice pic

[GeronL]

It’s not like they have a Navy

[Jack Hydrazine]

War is Boring website?

This guy disagrees!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVESMxs4rbA

[BenLurkin]

If you’re going to have an air force you better have some planes that can fly with the best of the others.

[TADSLOS]

They did prior to 1918.

[Calvin Locke]

I think the Swiss bought F-18s in the 1990s...

[cardinal4]

They did. There were a number of Swiss pilots training a Pax River when I worked there in the ‘90s..

[Zhang Fei]

When you need them, buying high performance jet fighters takes longer than training pilots to fly them. Just ask Assad. David Axe has no business writing about defense. His risible commentary includes the following gem about the F-35:

Pentagon’s big budget F-35 fighter ‘can’t turn, can’t climb, can’t run’

[Robert A Cook PE]

You do not know whether or not they were needed until the last war they might have been used in has ended.

[doorgunner69]

Who has the right to say from the outside what a country needs? Who gave them the authority or wisdom?

Very pompous. Good on the Austrians. Buy what you want and enjoy it.

[KarlInOhio]

On any given day, just three Typhoons are combat-ready with pilots and weapons—and only between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Well at least they don't let lunchtime get in the way of war preparedness.

[Lurker]

I have more guns than I can shoot at once. That is a good thing. Nothing wrong with having a bit of extra hardware about.

[ThunderSleeps]

On any given day, just three Typhoons are combat-ready with pilots and weapons—and only between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

That can probably be changed in a matter of hours.

Speaking of hours, given the amount of maintenance hours a modern jet needs per flying hour it might not be so unrealistic to have more jets than pilots.

The 3 hours of flying time per day sounds small, but with only 11 pilots that's about 99 hrs per year. Sure, about 1/3 the typical US fighter pilot seat time but we'd need to look at how many different kinds of ordnance and systems the two groups are working with, and how many different missions they are training for.

[rdcbn]

Maintaining a first class military costs you an extraordinary amount of money.

Neglecting to maintain a first class military costs you everything in time of need.

History teaches that the time of need for military protection comes far more frequently and at more inopportune times than one would like.

BTW, the F-35 is a lot better than it’s critics give it credit for so don’t believe all the BS that has been published.

F-35 meets JSF performance metrics and JSF metrics describe a pretty capable and maneuverable air craft.

[saintgermaine]

Get to work by eight in the morning and go home by four, this is the Viennese schedule..hmmmmm

While on duty and flying, occasionally drop a few kegs of beer, that’s how it is done in Oestereich.

[Kozak]

They had a coastline prior to 1918...

[MamaB]

Yep. It is their country and money so it’s no one else’s business what they do with it.

[MamaB]

We were going through my late hisband’s fishing gear after his death. He most have had about 50 rods/reels. We gave most of it to my brother. He loved bass fishing especially at night.

[Moltke]

Austria is a tiny, politically neutral country with no nearby enemies.

The Turks could be at the Gates of Vienna at any time...then there's Romania, Bulgaria, the Balkans...