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Originally Posted by XabbaRus
Carlo Kopp, that name rings a bell. There are a couple of aussies over at strategypage who also post at defensetalk.com whose opinion I respect and what they and others have to say about Kopp isn't good. He's a guy with an agenda so I would take that article with a pinch of salt. From what I understand he has pissed off a fair number of Aussie top brass.
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Of course he did. He's basically saying the Australian military is making a huge, horrible mistake, and you don't do that without making some enemies, since he's basically calling them idiots.
On the other hand, he is prominent enough to have his opinions directly quoted by the Australian Parliament, so at least he's no Mike Sparks (but then, even Sparks occasionally has a good point). Which must of course, be just
infuriating to the Aussie top brass by itself.
As for agenda, he certainly has a position. In a world where people are constantly mumbling about electronics (a group which includes the Australian MoD) as the solution to all problems, he's a kinematics man who believes that though electronics are important, they are also the icing on the airframe and (to a lesser extent, since these can sometimes be changed) engine cake. Since the electronics can be changed, it is important to get the airframe right. It is the fundamental origin of most of his positions regarding everything from the F-22 to the JSF.
But as for agenda in all its more sinister senses, I wonder what they are claiming he is. Lockheed agent? Propagandist from Red China. I'm interested.
The only thing I wonder is what he thinks of oh, Colonel Riccioni, the guy who contributed to the F-16 and the most prominent star against the F-22. The F-22 did well in its last combat exercise IIRC, but then it has always done well in American simulations (which includes American assumptions of how air combat will occur). If I were Riccioni, I would note that in the last round, most of its kills were BVR - only ~3 were WVR, and the F-22s seem rather heavily supported by a tanker in a relatively small playing area.