Australia's Joint Strike Fighter Order...

Here's one way to spend $7,000,000,000 in the next few years.

Despite the fact that we have housing shortages, food shortages and essential services shortages we can always afford more war toys for the war pigs who rule us.

This is a disgusting waste of money.

[edit on 12-6-2008 by tezzajw]

But didn't you read the article...there is a potential saving of $1billion over what we expected to pay.

I have to admit, they look like an awesome piece of machinery.

Yeah well i know the us economy sure can use that money for some.Thanks for the post.

Originally posted by Sloth
I have to admit, they look like an awesome piece of machinery.

I agree, they do look awesome. However, they're useless. All they are is war toys that are designed for destroying and killing. They serve no peacetime purpose.

Now, if they had the capacity to drop water bombs on bushfires, or if they could winch people from being stuck in tight places they might be useful.

Imagine what $7,000,000,000 could buy, if the government was really concerned about the people.

And just to think we here in Australia have our pensioners going with out food and having a hard time paying the bills to keep the dam lights on But our Government can spend this amount of money with out a second thought

We should realy slap our Government in the head I thought we were one of the lucky Countrys of this world

Trying to keep up with the Jones of this world

It's not like the F-35's are getting here right now. In Canada, our first F-35 won't get to us until 2020. By then, our (C)F-18(8)'s will be 40 years old! Thier be obsolete, not to mention the structural fatigue on them. Australia's F-18 also have to be replaced eventually. With inflation, the price can only go up, so now would seem like a logical time to buy.

You do have a point in saying that they are a somewhat waste of money. Australia's F-18's have only seen combat in Afghanistan, though playing a much smaller role, compared to USAF. In theory, Australia could never have bought F-18's, and still have been in the sameplace they are today. Buying combat aircraft is all about gambling on the future.

Originally posted by duffster
And just to think we here in Australia have our pensioners going with out food and having a hard time paying the bills to keep the dam lights on

It's ok. We can get the pensioners to sit near the exhaust flames from these jets to stay warm AND to toast their marshmallows. Both their heating and cooking problems will be solved!

It sickens me that our government can neglect the basic humanitarian needs of people, yet so freely spend billions on war toys.

defence purchases by any country is to defend and protect its
citizens.
And it is a great deal indeed.

Always knew those Aussies would never leave us hanging!Let loose the Dingoes!Besides do you really think they are going to let Israel have all the fun?i dont think so!
John Mccain 08

Originally posted by duffster
And just to think we here in Australia have our pensioners going with out food and having a hard time paying the bills to keep the dam lights on But our Government can spend this amount of money with out a second thought

you can adopt a granny if u want.

the decision was made by the liberals and after extensive debate
and looking at all options

Well, fact is, the Liberals fudged it. the F 35 JFS can't even fly yet - so what do we have to do? We have to buy another set of jets, the hornets, before the designated POS F35 can actually fly.

Australia, like Israel is seemingly doing, should have access to the F 22 Raptor.

There has been talk of an export version, if there ever will be one, would be a 'Raptor Lite' version.

Might've been better than spending money on such a large purchase that doesn't do anything.

reply to post by mattguy404


the jsf has been flight testing for a while now.
the 2nd version the usmc version had first flight a few days ago

read this thread it is very extensive thread
it will give you a better understanding

www.abovetopsecret.com...'

[edit on 13-6-2008 by Jezza]

i wonder what America would say if we brought Russian jets?

Ive always had this gut instinct that there must be a hidden reason why Australia is pushing for the purchase of these state of the art fighter jets.

The Ausie government, yes they might save some money, but they seem very pushy for this purchase....why?

it just looks like they know something is coming in the near future where they will need these fighter, anybody else get this feeling or maybe its just me?

very big money to spend, i agree, that could've been spent on essential services instead.

if at all the aussie government ever felt threatened by another power, theres a simple solution hat may just help.........give us our semi-auto's back Kevin!

Originally posted by Melbourne_Militia
if at all the aussie government ever felt threatened by another power, theres a simple solution hat may just help.........give us our semi-auto's back Kevin!

I completely agree with this.

If we had access to our normal small-arms, the pump actions and semi-automatics, then any invading force would be met with resistance from every house in every street. The entire country would be far too hostile for a foreign force to consider trying to dominate.

Armed civillians are not soldiers, they will fight to the death, without pay, to ensure the safety of their homes and families.

$7,000,000,000 spent on war toy jets is a friggin waste of money! I don't care how 'cheap' the deal is - it's still SEVEN BILLION dollars, while many people struggle to feed themselves!

reply to post by tezzajw


do you honestly think it would be a good idea to flood the country with semi automatics? we would be the next America. and a few civilians with machine guns isn't going to win a war they just be cannon fodder (insurgency although effective wouldn't do anything but cause more bloodshed).

And who do you suppose would attack Australia... it would be pointless seeing as how we have defensive pacts with America... the attacker would sign there own death warrant..

Indonesians wouldn't do it, China couldn't sustain a force for long enough and i doubt there is any other country apart from maybe Russia that could pull it off... Australia is just to big

Originally posted by purplemonkey
And who do you suppose would attack Australia...

That's been the whole point of this thread. Why are we wasting seven billion dollars on war toy planes that we will never use?

When have any of our war toy planes recently been used to DEFEND AUSTRALIA? (I don't mean fighting in illegal wars overseas war either, they don't count)

Originally posted by tezzajw
... we can always afford more war toys for the war pigs who rule us.

This is a disgusting waste of money.
[edit on 12-6-2008 by tezzajw]

But then if your parents and / or grandparents had taken that attitude then we would all be Nazi's or ruled by the Janpanese (if you are Australian)! "Sieg Heil" just slips of the tongue.

Regards

This would be a good decision on the part of the Australian government. Saving that billion dollars means that more money can be put towards maintaining them, which is good for the service life, which saves more money in the long run. All things considered that's a pretty good price for something that isn't likely to be matched for a very long time. At present the Russians and Chinese have nothing actually on the table even comparable, just some nice looking proposals. And even those proposals are likely to be behind the F-35 when they finally do come out many decades down the road. By then the F-35 will likely be seeing a variety of available upgrades. Considering that the F-18's only have so much life left on them it's time to upgrade to something new, and the F-35 is guaranteed to maintain an edge for many years to come.

Also when you consider that by buying now it puts money into the F-35 program it helps everyone involved with the F-35 further down the road, including Australia. The more F-35's that are bought the more the unit price goes down and the more money that can be invested into further development. Meaning that replacement planes get cheaper, replacement parts and other maintenence equipment gets cheaper, and more upgrades are developed at a lower cost.

And finally when you consider how versatile of a system it is you find yourself saving even more money. Much like the F-18 it's an attack aircraft and fighter aircraft rolled into one. And the VTOL version shares the majority of its parts and frames with the other variants which allows for reduced maintenence costs on the VTOL version if bought in addition to the standard version.

Long story short, it'd be seven billion well spent for defense purposes. And it just so happens that it's good for more than just defensive purposes. A lot of parts are likely to be indigenously produced which is a great boon for the economy. Also take the young airmen that get to maintain these planes. Not only are they serving their country rather than facing unemployment for those that have limited options, but they're also learning useful skills on a very high tech platform. I've always thought of military service as one of the most effective forms of welfare there is, and the seven billion towards the F-35 will greatly assist in that.

Sorry guy's this just makes me sick to think we spend all this money to "fight"-defend our country Why carn't we spend this money on free energy making every one's life much better and Go forward as a Country and not play follow the leader