Choppers give Air Force a welcome boost

25/05/2011 11:47:10 p.m.

mouthgard wrote:

Hey , ... for 150 times the cost of a Sioux we got something that flies TWICE as far. Wow!
Hey guys , I think we've been ripped here. Badly.
Time for a court martial . Seriously.
A new Twin turbine Long Ranger isnt even 3 million,
and these are 28 million each?

17/05/2011 6:05:54 a.m.

Rebekha wrote:

About time, think about all the men and women who have dedicated years of their lives to service in the Air Force and have very little in the way of aircraft.... Go National.....

16/05/2011 5:03:07 p.m.

hammer wrote:

Blackhawk, you need to take a look at the Air New Zealand fleet, it contains both Airbuses & Boeings ! I never did suggest that WINZ pay for the helicopters I was pointing out that their budget is much larger & this was reconfirmed by Jonathon. Unfortunately your comments & those of many others are typical of many New Zealanders whom cirticise the very poor state of our armed forces, but then bitterly complain when even the smallest amount of money is spent on them ! Let me know what your alternative helicopter is ? you seem to be a critc that offers no solutions or alternative.

16/05/2011 2:46:24 p.m.

blackhawk wrote:

@hammer, yes italy makes the pilots seats and the airbus you talk about that italia make is not an air nz .
ever heard of boeing. as far as your suggestion that winz should pay for the helecopters instead of supporting
people show very poor taste. sad they let such rubbish on here.

15/05/2011 7:51:55 p.m.

hammer wrote:

Blackhawks, your comments are interesting & typically you don't offer any alternative ? Considering these are training & utility helicopters are you expecting us to buy Apache combat helicopters for this role ? Also your dig atthe Italians is poor & you should consider that the NH90 Helicopter & both the Tornado & Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft are partly made by the Italians as is Air New Zealand's Airbus A320 planes & these are all quality products !

15/05/2011 3:48:11 p.m.

black hawk wrote:

these are described as obsolete by america. they can only go twice as fast as the old clapped out 1965 jobs, a joke.
no one buys military hardware from italy, they only make furniture and spaghetti. another national waste of money.
toys that will be mechanically a problem as are all italian
planes and helecopters. no research ,a disgrace.

15/05/2011 12:58:01 p.m.

Brent wrote:

Loved the dig By PM at Phil Goff, Great way to get to the V8s, What was Phil's reply to that.

14/05/2011 9:08:34 p.m.

Jonathon wrote:

@hammer

The Winz budget is smaller than you believe.

They get 12 Billion dollars a year however 9 Billion of that goes on National Super alone.

Infact if you got rid of National Super the government books would pretty much balance.

Over 65's make up 15 percent of the adult population.

All other benefit types make up 6.4 percent.

And the pension is the highest paid benefit in New Zealand.

14/05/2011 8:32:03 p.m.

hammer wrote:

Good to see that the aiforce is able to replace the 46 year old Bell 47's with a capable & useful machine. Rewi, your comments are poor, as our airforce does not even have any combat aircaft anymore, the defence budget is pathetic by world standards & there is no belt to tighten. The budget that WINZ has to hand out benefits to people is huge by comparison !

14/05/2011 5:24:02 p.m.

jabba wrote:

thanks rewi and davey .. I knew I wouldn't be let down