Now with Beer Garden for our smoking patrons.
This article has come from news.com.au
Does anyone have any comment about this? I personally believe that the Eurofighter Typhoon was a better option to plug the capability gap before the arrival of the F-35, but it has never come up in any of the government statements. All you hear about is American options.
Labor to buy $6bn fighter jets
March 17, 2008 02:23pm
- Government to go ahead and buy Super Hornets
- Defence review critical of former Government
- Minister says last Government has left no choice
THE Australian Defence Force (ADF) will proceed with plans to acquire Boeing Super Hornet aircraft ordered by the previous Government, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon announced today.
Mr Fitzgibbon said the Super Hornet was an excellent aircraft capable of meeting any known threat in the region.
"It is the only aircraft which can meet the small delivery window created by the former Government's poor planning processes and politically driven responses,'' he said.
Mr Fitzgibbon, releasing the first section of Labor's air combat review, accused the Coalition of a lack of sound long-term air combat capability planning during the past decade.
The retirement of the RAAF's F-111 strike bomber fleet had been made in haste but was now irreversible.
"The cost of turning the F-111 back on would be enormous and crews and skills have already moved on,'' he said.
"The former Government's decision to leave Australia's air defence in the hands of the Joint Strike Fighter project was a flawed leap of faith in scheduling terms, and combined with the quick decision to retire F-111 early, allowed an air combat capability gap to emerge.''
Under plans launched by the former Government, the RAAF's ageing F-111 bombers will retire soon after 2010.
The RAAF's current fleet of F/A-18 Hornets will remain in service but be gradually replaced by the new Lockheed F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) from 2015.
To ensure there was no capability gap between retirement of the F-111s and arrival of JSF, the former Government ordered 24 Lockheed Super Hornets from the US at a cost of $6bn.
That deal was announced in March last year with the first Super Hornet due to arrive in July next year.
One of Mr Fitzgibbon's first acts as defence minister was to commission a review of air combat needs, with stage one considering the period 2010-15 and stage two looking out to 2045.
Mr Fitzgibbon said the Government had concluded, based on advice from the review team, the Super Hornet had to stay.
He said no other suitable aircraft could be produced to meet the 2010 deadline set by the former Government.
"One year on, that is now even more so the case,'' he said.
"Cancelling the Super Hornet would bring significant financial penalties and create understandable tensions between the contract partners.''
Mr Fitzgibbon said the review had identified an opportunity to reduce the support costs of the Super Hornet, saving up to $300m.
The analysis had also highlighted additional capabilities, such as the specialised electronic warfare variant of the Super Hornet, would be considered as part of the overall acquisition.
"These additional capabilities will be more fully considered under the second stage of the air combat capability review,'' he said.
Mr Fitzgibbon said further announcements would be made after the review team reports at the end of next month.
