A-4 today

David E. Powell wrote:
I was wondeirng, given the NZ government having problems with
Skyhawks, what made them so put off about them? I know they are older,
but the Israelis really modified theirs and they seemed OK with
precision weapons.

Can the A-4 Skyhawk mount Harpoon missiles? If not I would guess that
Penguin or something like that would be doable. With a good mix of
fuel tanks and underwing missiles I could see the A-4 giving the New
Zealanders a good quick-reaction capability over a very good range.

Are the Kiwis planning to replace the A-4 with a new attack jet type
due to expense and maintenance or are they just making the decision
they don't need that type of craft for their defensive needs?

At any rate A-4s being used as aggressors for training today is still
pretty cool after about 50 or so years of Skyhawk service.

David

New Zealand's Labour government has retired both the A-4's and their
Aermacchi MB-339's as well as canceled an order for F-16's because they
decided to retire all of their combat jets in favor of transport
aircraft. So the country has converted the RNZAF from an air force into
an air freight service.

ALV