By Mike Yeo
Despite criticism of the fighter aircraft, Canberra goes all in with a record defense acquisition.
After years of deliberations, Australia has made a full commitment to the controversial Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) with Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s announcement that his government has approved an A$12.4 billion ($11.5 billion) deal for 58 F-35A Conventional Takeoff and Landing (CTOL) variant of the JSF. In addition to the 14 aircraft ordered in 2009, of which two are already in production and set to be delivered to a training detachment in the United States later in 2014, this latest commitment brings Australia’s order up to 72 aircraft. The first will arrive Down Under in 2018 for local testing and evaluation by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), with Initial Operating Capability scheduled for 2020.
Predictably, the announcement has drawn strong reactions, both for and against the acquisition. Professor Hugh White, Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University, wrote: “The F-35 has its problems, but on balance it is the best bet for Australia’s future air combat and strike capability, and that capability will be very important in the decades ahead.” However, prominent Australian F-35 critic and Member of Parliament Dr. Dennis Jensen of the ruling Liberal Party broke ranks with the government, calling it a “dud decision” and accusing Defence Department officials of acting as “salesmen for the Joint Strike Fighter” instead of being more discerning buyers.
So what does the acquisition—the largest ever Australian defense purchase—mean for the country’s defense posture? For one thing, it means that there will be no fighter capability gap when the last of the RAAF’s F/A-18A/B “Classic” Hornets are withdrawn by 2022. It will also ensure that the Classic Hornets will be replaced on a one-for-one basis by the F-35A, with two operational squadrons and one conversion unit based at Williamtown on Australia’s east coast, plus one more operational squadron in northern Australia to get the F-35As when deliveries of the Australian aircraft are completed in 2023.
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