Australia's new Labor government has opted to stick with an inherited order for 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters, but defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon has rounded on his predecessors, accusing them of lacking "sound long-term air combat capability planning during the last decade."
Stepping back from an earlier threat to cancel the A$6.6 billion ($6 billion) purchase, Fitzgibbon says: "The Super Hornet is 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."
Signed in early 2007, the controversial order for the Super Hornet will replace the Royal Australian Air Force's General Dynamics F-111s, and provide a stop-gap capability ahead of the delivery of Lockheed Martin'sF-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Fitzgibbon says a fresh feasibility study on retaining the F-111s beyond 2010 concluded that their retirement was irreversible due to the huge costs involved. "The decision to leave Australia's air defence in the hands of the JSF 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," he says.
"The subsequent timetable the former government put on the acquisition of an interim fighter left defence planners with no choice but to recommend the Super Hornet. No other suitable aircraft could be produced to meet the 2010 deadline."
Schedule concerns over the F-35 project contributed to the government's decision to honour the F/A-18F purchase, while Fitzgibbon adds: "Cancelling the Super Hornet would bring significant financial penalties and create understandable tensions between the contract partners."
The announcement comes as a relief to Boeing, which has already cut metal on its first two-seat aircraft for the RAAF: the first export buyer for the Super Hornet. The company hopes that its success could pave the way for other orders in the Asia-Pacific region, in particular to meet a $12 billion, 126-aircraft requirement in India.
A second part of Australia's air combat capability review will examine its requirements until 2045, with this including its planned acquisition of the F-35, and a potential follow-on deal with Boeing to purchase E/A-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft. Its recommendations will be incorporated into a new Defence White Paper to be published late this year.
Additional reporting by Emma Kelly
Source: Flight International
