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Originally Posted by boogiedowndonovan
Hey a bit OT, but,
Assuming that the New Zealand F-16 buy went through, what year would they have had them?
In my T2k world, I am going to assume that with the never ending Cold War and the hostilities between PRC/USSR, the RNZAF has them around 97 before the nukes start flying.
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According to "Edging into Isolation" in Flight International, March 1989 and "Skyhawk Soars Again" in the December 1988 edition of the same magazine (available at http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchi...0-%203548.html) an A-4 scheme fitting new avionics allowed the RNZAF to achieve maritime strike and CAS capability equal to a F-16 at one-sixth of the cost. Given that those upgrades were supposed to finish up in the early 90s and the subsequent aircraft purchases talked about in 1989 were trainers, tankers, transports and avionics upgrades for the P-3 fleet, I think a F-16 buy was off the table until the war in China broke out, by which time it was too late - the Chinese ordered all the F-16s Fort Worth could crank out, and the USAF started impounding most of the production once the slaughter of fighter aircraft began over the Oder.
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I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
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