29 Feb 2020, 12:45

The central premise to the motion is a good one, however I believe that due to the nature of the A340 being a commercially designed aircraft meant to operate under very very pristine conditions we should instead sell off some of or all of the aircraft apparently being gifted to the EU.

The ERF is meant for quick action responses to devastated areas, areas which more often than not might not have a suitable run way or infrastructure to support an A340. I propose instead that the ERF look into buying second hand tactical airlifts from EU Member-states such as the DU with it's C-130 or C-17 aircraft. These aircraft would greatly increase the airlift capacity and more easily modulated for whatever mission the ERF needs to take on. These aircraft were custom ordered for government VIPs such as apparently EU Councillors, at least according to URR press releases. That will require thousands of man hours and millions of dollars to convert them to a proper humanitarian supporting aircraft.

Another thing not being mentioned by my fellow Cllrs is the maintenance cost of an A340, especially brand new aircraft is relatively high while the infrastructure to support them is implemented in the ERF. Decades proven C-130s or A400M, or C-17s would be a vastly better investment.

Councillor Carita Falk
Archrepublic of Vayinaod