Greetings from Brazil, where we are checking out the Embraer KC-390 twin jet airlifter. It can carry more cargo than a C-130J a lot further and a lot faster. Yet Australia is spending almost $10 billion for 20 C-130Js without the benefit of any sort of competitive evaluation. But it’s actually far worse than that because we are getting fewer C-130Js for more money than originally indicated – a major scandal that has been sitting in plain sight for more than a year and which has received no scrutiny at all. Two of the toughest, most objective, evaluators of military equipment are the Netherlands and South Korea. During the last 12 months they have both selected the KC-390 instead of the C-130J. Does it look like the RAAF has made the wrong choice? You bet it does – and it’s happened because they have been too lazy to do their job properly. And a few final words about smoking helicopter engines.

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