Australia's first Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft, the forerunner of as many as 100 advanced combat aircraft, is set to start down the production line in the next few weeks.
Air Vice Marshal Kym Osley, head of defence's new air combat capability program, rejected criticism of the JSF by organisations such as Air Power Australia (APA) on grounds they had not seen all the classified US data on the aircraft's performance.
He said the RAAF remained on track to receive its first two aircraft in 2014.
"Our first aircraft will start to be put together in the next few weeks," he told a parliamentary committee.
Australia is presently committed to buying 14 of the advanced Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF with two arriving in 2014 and the other 12 scheduled for delivery between 2015 and 2017.
Read the full story at the Business Spectator