The U.S.S. Ticonderoga kicked ass.

Why put the ship out to pasture, when Taiwan im sure would be very eager to scoup it up. It would be an ideal weapons platform for them and be able to provide decent missile defence for thier country in the event China decides to lob a few thier way. Last month I posted an article on the retirement of the USS Valley Forge. Several more retierments are on the way. You could put together a pretty impressive squadron that could really go a long way to shore up missile defence. Just a little FYI tidbit: The Valley Forge was one of the first ships to sortie on 911 and set up a picket line to protect the West Coast.

Originally posted by FredT
Why put the ship out to pasture, when Taiwan im sure would be very eager to scoup it up. It would be an ideal weapons platform for them and be able to provide decent missile defence for thier country in the event China decides to lob a few thier way. Last month I posted an article on the retirement of the USS Valley Forge. Several more retierments are on the way. You could put together a pretty impressive squadron that could really go a long way to shore up missile defence. Just a little FYI tidbit: The Valley Forge was one of the first ships to sortie on 911 and set up a picket line to protect the West Coast.

You are OBSESSED with arming other countries.

You simply arm nobody but yourself. Would you give your neighbor a gun so he could "protect himself?"

I would if they were allies or at least shared enough common values to count, even if it was only based on trade and a developing democracy...whoops. And it (personally) isn't about revenue or political influence, though obviously its part of the nations consideration

By the US agreeing to arm some nations who might not otherwise be able to defend themselves we (us and alllies) might never need to defend them ourselves ,either through maintaining a balance of forces in the region to keep the peace, or allowing the "freindly" state to give thier aggressor such a bloody nose before we arrive they'll think twice before doing it.

Taiwan has already taken on the Kidds, requiring them to decommission a half dozen elderly WW2 vessels. The strain of also operating any Ticonderogas might be beyond them.

The RAN was offerred the 4 Kidds several years ago and mistakenly turned them down on several grounds not least was a growing manpower shortage. We would have loved them to repace our departed Adams Class.
We have also recently turned down an offer on the first four Ticos on the same grounds despite the price for a job lot being offerred at AUD$120 million with the steam still up.

Also Taiwan wanted AEGIS Burkes but got turned down because the US "agreed" with mainland China these might upset the regional balance and provoke China. My guess is they would have the same issues with Tico.

[edit on 11-10-2004 by craigandrew]

keep arming the, Germans and Japanese in WWII, Afghans, Iraqis, Saudis, the world will be a better place.

Woulda been even prettier flying the RAN White Ensign (sigh!)

Originally posted by craigandrew
Woulda been even prettier flying the RAN White Ensign (sigh!)

You are right, the Ticos would be a great fit for the RAN esp if China were to get frisky. Both offensive and defensive, they would fit a variety of roles. Maybe the Howard government will reconsider

In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king. Or the guy who has the only tank and machinegun in town.

Sure if we didnt then the states that the "other side" armed in the last 60 years (or the people they sold the junk onto) would walk over all the countries we had a good relationship with.

In the real world we have to live with what we got. That came from playing games with the communists called "my puppet can beat your puppet".

Unfortunately the ex puppets wised up. Now if we don't make sure they are better armed and (hopefully) freindly we might lose access to all sorts of raw materials that we "need" to keep our expensive tech advantage, either through thier hissy fit or thier better armed neighbours.

We all know the definition of diplomacy. The definition of stupidity is putting the club down while the Rottweillers still snarling.

If we had the means of fixing things, it would involve going back and making sure our ancestors stayed in the cave picking nits off each other, or telling Adam showing Cain how to club dumb animals was "a bad idea, depending on your beleifs. The moment man made his first decision po'd some one off and set the scene for conflict, what ever next choice was made would have set it up for the next and so on. There would still be the haves and have nots, just the players might have been different.

You know....like the Islamic Republic Carrier Madhi launching airstrikes at the dirt poor farming nation of New Jersey.

So we arm the people we trust (??) for now, and keep better weapons off the ones we don't..............it's what happens when you take 100,000 years to hit 1 billion souls, then add another 6 billion in just the next 100 more. The old girl wasnt built to take so many.

Unless the Government can recruit and fund an additional 1500 to 2000 crew in the next 24 months the answer is no. Although Howard does now have the mandate and seats to give it a chance if he had the will.

The best bet would be to refit all six Aussie FFGs instead of four and have two in refit at a time starting now...That would allow at least one Tico to man immediately while they start training up additional crews to man the balance. The rumor is we were offerred four older Ticos with the steam still up for a job lot of AUD$120 million. Even if each, its still a bargain considering we are paying 1 to 1.5 billion AUD$ for each of three planned ADW Aegis ships building here, just when the early Ticos true life runs out.

It would allow the RAN to operate a proper on going volume ADW capability, introduce it to Standard, AEGIS, Tac-Toms and possibly seagoing TABMs and cover any delay in our own AEGIS ADW ships entering service later than 2015.