Irish Air Corps F-16 Fighting Falcon (Fictional)
A what if that could potentially become reality. The Irish Air Corps last military jet was the venerable Fouga Magister which was retired from service in 1998.
In February 2022, the Commission on the Defence Forces published a report. For the Air Corps, the report recommended that the service be renamed to the Irish Air Force and advocated for the establishment of a Chief of the Air Force. The report also recommended three levels of ambition (LOAs) with each level having different recommendations. LOA 1 proposes to maintain the current size of the Air Corps, while bringing active personnel numbers back up to the current establishment.[21]
LOA 2 recommends the development of additional capabilities, including:
2 additional medium helicopters - 8 Medium Helicopters to eventually be replaced with 8 super-medium helicopters
Primary radar - establish a Recognised Air Picture (RAP)
Strategic reach aircraft - transport and airlift for overseas deployments
Counter UAV - Anti-drone/UAV capability
Air Corps Reserve - recruitment of specialist roles (technicians, trained pilots, air traffic controllers)
LOA 3 recommends a further development of Air Corps combat capabilities, including:
Jet combat aircraft - Air combat/intercept capability
Troop carrier aircraft - Overseas deployment of personnel
Armed CSAR helicopters - Organic intra-theatre deployments
Under LOA 3, the new Air Force would also be capable of deploying combat pilots, aircraft and support personnel overseas. LOA 2 recommends a budget of €1.5 billion with LOA 3 recommending a budget of €3 billion. The commission compared Ireland to other nations of similar GDP and population size, and determined these budgetary increases would be commensurate with those nations.
Here is my rendition of a F-16 would look like as part of a revitalised Irish Air Corps.
You will need to have the SC Designs F-16 Fighting Falcon installed in order to use this livery:
https://www.justflight.com/product/sc-designs-f16-c-d-i-fighting-falcon
Happy Flights!
9 months ago
9 months ago
Nforce
enderking