i get why they would want to upgrade helicopters, but why would anyone want to embarrass defence planes?!

Money that could be spent actually improving the lives of the people of this country.

I'm sure there's a mention in flight of the conchords that NZ's tanks are just donated old UK planes that don't fly anymore.

Yeah, I'm embarrassed - but more about our government and multiple iterations of it having completely shortsighted approaches to just about everything

I wonder how many inter-islanders we could buy

Seahawks and A320 series jets, both great choices.

The Seahawk is from the same family as the Black Hawk, an aircraft type operated all around the world, and the A321 is part of a family of jets operated by airlines globally, probably thousands in operation around the globe.

Both aircraft types are very popular, and operated by our allies, meaning manufacturer support should continue for decades into the future.

I think that, long term, this will represent a cost saving over trying to keep the ageing aircraft we currently have in service.

Oh no, embarrassing.

Grow up.