The Irish Air Defence Fighter aircraft proposals

[McColm]

 I've read somewhere or seen a video where the Irish are contemplating on buying aircraft to intercept the Russian and deter them from flying over Irish airspace.
I don't know what budget they have and if they prefer single seater or twin seats,  secondhand or new,  leased or contracted Aggressor companies which might be cheaper as they have their own infrastructure and their own pilots.
Ideally secondhand Eurofighter Typhoons from the Royal Air Force or
F-16s.
They could use the Canadian CF-118 Hornets,  although keeping the fleet flying has required buying parts from the Australians or the Saab Gripen.
The French might be able to offload some of their Mirages  or even the Kfir.
A longshot could be to refurbish the Indian Sea Harriers to the FA2 standard or go one step further and use the wings from the AV-8B Harrier II. Or even buy secondhand AV-8B Harrier II.
Another option might be using a two seater training aircraft,  all they need is a controller to vector them towards the target.
The Chinese might step in or even the Indians. A bit of back engineering and the F-5  is another possibility.
Of course I have been concentrating on jets,  turboprop aircraft might be another option.
The F-22, F-15 and F-35 are a tad expensive but being in the Whiffing world Yak-38s or even Su-27s/Mig-29s.
There's a whole range of possibilities.

[Dizzyfugu]

They could take over the Austrian Eurofighter fleet - but I have doubts that the maintenance costs would be worth it...

[Weaver]

By far the most sensible option would be to use Typhoons, with a common fleet (and pilot pool?) with the RAF in order to minimise overheads. Essentially, two-dozen 'RAF' Typhoons with orange/white/green roundels get based in the Republic. Politically though....

[major]

By far the most sensible option would be to use Typhoons, with a common fleet (and pilot pool?) with the RAF in order to minimise overheads. Essentially, two-dozen 'RAF' Typhoons with orange/white/green roundels get based in the Republic. Politically though....

Most definitely the only sensible option! 
Unfortunately, T'will never happen. And with a budget that is barley able to keep a handful of PC-9's and AW 139's flying, there is no chance of fast jets ever in IAC service! 

There Is a famous story from the 90's, our glorious leader at the time, the once finance minister, who for some reason had no bank account of his own, didn't want the RAF flying over Ireland. He tasked junior ministers to cost F-16's for the IAC. When it was realised the financial commitment required, his reply was, 'Feck It, leave the brits to It!' 

[Weaver]

Well, that's what you get for a defence budget of 0.27% of GDP - not much!

Raising it to even just 1% of GDP would give them another 1.5 billion euros to play with...

[PR19_Kit]

Raising it to even just 1% of GDP would give them another 1.5 billion euros to play with...

Almost half an F-35's worth................

[Weaver]

Ireland
GDP: $413 billion
Defense Budget: $0.93 billion
Defense % of GDP: 0.27%


Portugal
GDP: $340 billion
Defense Budget: $3.36 billion
Defense % of GDP: 1.41%

Portugal has two squadrons of F-16s.


Denmark
GDP: $299 billion
Defense Budget: $4.76 billion
Defense % of GDP: 1.35%

Denmark has two squadrons of F-16s and is buying two squadrons of F-35s.


Conclusion: Ireland could have a couple of squadrons of jet fighters if it wanted. All it has to do is decide to pay for them...

[AeroplaneDriver]

Not sure what this is all about. The Irish Air Corps have handled their own air policing since 2006 when they got Hawk 200s. 
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=47847.0



But seriously...it seems like a sensible option would be to take a squadron's worth of the best F-16s The Netherlands is retiring.  They would have to be pretty  cheap and would be perfectly capable in a purely Air Defence role with a brace of AMRAAMs and X-Sidewinders. 

[Old Wombat]

Much easier & cheaper to sit quietly (or even noisily) neutral on the outskirts peeking out from behind the RN, British Army & RAF.

[zenrat]

I'm sure China would happily equip an expanded Irish Air Force at a very reasonable rate if Eire signed up to the Belt & Road Initiative and maybe provided them with some monitoring facilities and perhaps a port...

[Rick Lowe]

I'm sure China would happily equip an expanded Irish Air Force at a very reasonable rate if Eire signed up to the Belt & Road Initiative and maybe provided them with some monitoring facilities and perhaps a port...

Don't give them any more ideas... 

[Weaver]

Latest defence review rumours have the RAF retiring two-dozen early-model Typhoons. There's the opportunity...