Blademaster

Geez, old man, take a chill pill. I was referring to the dominance part. Australia will remain dominant as long as it doesn't do anything stupid that would cause the ASEAN countries to band together and go against Australia.

Talk about overreaction.

tim52

I agree!

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Danielk

Lol even if all the S/E asia and pacific countries did come together they still woudint be a match for aus :D

Stan

man i wish china would just come after you purely for all you uranium

outofshdw

It's not that I wouldn't be in favor of some exceptions . . . it's just that once the US starts making exceptions (like selling a batch to Japan for example), everyone else in the neighborhood thinks they're entitled too (like S Korea).

It's simpler to just allow no exceptions and be done with it.

perfectgeneral

I voted no to improve the export market for Typhoon ;-)

Stan

I voted Yes but only to one country.

Sell them to the UK only allowing the market for the eurofighter to hot up so the Royal Airforce can dump all theirs on the market and pick up the F-22

Blademaster

That's because there never really was a reason to build up such a force. By the way, the Singapore Navy and Airforce is pretty decent. If used properly, it can be used to destroy any long range combat capability of Australia and leave Australia pretty much a brown water navy.

leib10

Who would spend that much? Would our allies really have a need for such an advanced and expensive aircraft for anything but a limited basis?

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ashkon

Our airforce is pretty decent too,their pilots train here.

Tasman

That is an interesting comment and I wonder if you could elaborate.

I think that the Singapore armed forces have developed tremendously in the last decade but I would have thought they would be hard pressed to threaten Australia. At the same time I think that defensively they are strong enough to ensure that Australia could not threaten Singapore!

By the way, I think Australia and Singapore are on excellent terms with each other and I don't see a situation arising where either country would threaten the other but it makes an interesting scenario.

Cheers

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Jimmy

Strength and power projection are very different concepts. Singapore has some solid pilots, and they have a good understanding of what they can and cant do, and what they need to do to improve. I dont know how effective they would be outside of a relatively small area beyond their borders, however.

Blademaster

Singapore Air Force has BVR planes such as the F-16 Block 52s and AEW planes such as E-2C Hawkeyes. Yes admittedly, they cannot go beyond their borders too much. But as I said, if used properly they can be used to destroy the long-range planes of Australia. So if they could be transported to a nearby friendly country such as Indonesia and positioned in such a location where they can intercept ingressing Australia planes as they try to attack .

True. They are on good terms and the last decade with Indonesia has pretty much convinced that Singapore's allies are pretty much non-ASEAN countries. But only if Australia doesn't do really something stupid such as reverting to colonial mindset. Singapore values its independence very much.

It remains to be seen whether Malaysia can capitalize on its increased defence budget and continue its economic progress. If so, they have a very good chance of building a very respectable air force and navy. As for Indonesia, they have too many problems right now so they are pretty much a non-factor. But if Indonesia get its act together and get the economy rolling, then Australia should be very concerned and attempt to build friendly relations to Indonesia, hence, my early post about trying to dominate the area and warning of reverting to the "Whites Only" policy.

Akita

I voted yes.

The thread has grown entertaining. Seems several fellow posters are resentful of Australia for something or other that occured in some previous century? Maybe the colonial repression of India. No that was U.K. Oh yeah, the Phillipines! No, that was Spain, then us Yanks. Indonesia? Weren't the wooden shoe'd minions of the House of Orange the antagonists there?

Since I voted yes, I get to pick my clients: All the Anglo-states. In truth, Australia may need the Raptor before the brits do, since Indonesia will probably fall to new Caliphate before continental Europe does...by a few years at least. So...

1. Australia, (we may need to help with that but the Aussie's are on the frontline of the coming bloodletting. I was encouraged by their C-17 buy.)

2. U.K., (except that they are quickly reducing their defense budget to zero. Too bad. The RAF are the oldest, and probably highest quality outfit in the air. The gov has stabbed some valiant warriors in the back there, and they will be needed in the years to come.)

ANY of the dependable posse of 'usual suspects' that have stood by us, (U.S.) over the last half century of holding back the dark:

3. Isreal and Singapore are both on the target list when the Mullahs launch their reign of terror, and both will live or die with the Anglo-bloc. Both will only move closer to the West in the years to come and be more threatened by immediate neghbors as those years go by.

4. Japan is far enough back from N.Korea and NEA mainland to be effective as a counterbalance but honestly, japan just dosn't need the damned plane. They could build one almost as good if they needed it but they don't. China is not on a course of conquest if 3,000 years of continual history is any guide. North Korea is following Cuba down the sewer and is no real threat to anyone's air force. S.Korea might could use the Raptor in the short term, but by the time they could build up a wing of the super fighters, N.Korea will cease to exist.

That's it: I will sell MY Raptors to Australia, Singapore, Isreal and the U.K.

(For God's sake, don't let me get control of U.S. foreign policy--I'd sell give away surplus boomer boats to the Aussies and sell anything in the catalog to the Indians.)

Grim

I voted no, subject to change due to realist needs and changes in technology.