Australia delays delivery of 12 F-35 fighters

[spazsinbad]

Australia to confirm 58-aircraft F-35 order 22 Apr 2014 Andrew McLaughlin

"Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott will announce on 23 April that his government has approved the acquisition of 58 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, to replace the Royal Australian Air Force’s Boeing F/A-18A/B "classic" Hornets.

The 58 aircraft will comprise a second tranche of the Australian Defence Force’s Air 6000 Phase 2A/2B new air combat capability (NACC) project. The first tranche totalled 14 A-model jets, two of which are currently in final production as part of the multinational programme’s sixth lot of low-rate initial production (LRIP). A contract covering long-lead production items for the other 12 during LRIP blocks eight and nine is currently being negotiated with the USA.

The first two RAAF aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to the USAF’s integrated training centre at Luke AFB in Arizona by the end of the year, while the service’s first pilot for the type will begin training at Eglin AFB in California in December, and the second at Luke in April 2015. Australia's first F-35A unit will be 3 Sqn, based at RAAF Williamtown in New South Wales. Its first four aircraft are to be ferried to Australia in 2018 to support operational evaluation activities, before the type achieves initial operating capability in 2020...."

SOURCE: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... er-398443/

[spazsinbad]

Australia Orders 58 More Joint Strike Fighters 23 Apr 2014 Dave Majumdar

"...“Lockheed Martin expressed its delight in a statement released by company spokeswoman Laura Siebert.

Lockheed Martin appreciates the confidence the Australian government has demonstrated in the F-35 by their decision today,” she wrote...."

SOURCE: http://news.usni.org/2014/04/23/austral ... e-fighters

[popcorn]

A 2-part interview providing context for the acquisition of the F-35.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rKk1WtKMrnU


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZMAxFQBC_c

[spazsinbad]

This 'lady' has to be a ..... probably not polite to say but she says some hilarious things here.... Bit sad really if you do not agree with the analogy but hey I'm carping - right? At least 'our EyeFones' will be upgraded as is convenient (any LRIP that we may buy - does Apples do dat?). TOOLette was the word I was looking for.

Australia New Fighter Jets Is like Buying an iPhone 24 Apr 2014 Lydia Bradbury

"When people decide to buy the newest iPhone, they realize that next month, a new edition will be released that is even better and so a lot of consumers decide to wait for the best model to be released. Apparently certain members of the Australian government have never bought an iPhone as they display the worst sort of consumerism in the decision to buy Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II...

...The situation over Australia’s new fighter jets is a little like asking Steve Jobs whether or not to buy the latest iPhone and having him tell you to wait a month because Apple is coming out with a better one. In fact, Lockheed Martin already has a better jet, the F-22 Raptor, in production. This aircraft costs about 150 million dollars to produce and is supposed to be even better than the JSF. But the United States government is not allowing Lockheed Martin (an American company with numerous lucrative defence contracts with the US) to sell this fighter to any other country right now. At some point, the F-22 Raptor will no doubt go on the market, but it has not yet and until then the JSF is the best available to non-American countries, including the Land Down Under....

...All in all, the purchase of the JSF by the Abbott government looks less and less like a good defence move and more like when kids want to buy the latest Apple device.... The JSF might be fine once it gets made and improvements will no doubt occur as time goes on. But defence spending for a prosperous nation should not be comparable to buying an iPhone, which is what Australia has done with these new fighter jets. It really seems like none of the politicians involved have ever tried to buy something from Apple or any other tech company, for that matter."

SOURCE: http://guardianlv.com/2014/04/australia ... an-iphone/

[popcorn]

Sipping APA KoolAid?

[lookieloo]

Sipping APA KoolAid?

More like straight-up bimbo.

[XanderCrews]

Sipping APA KoolAid?

More like straight-up bimbo.

LOL wow. I am embarassed for her.

So far Australia's purchase has been as entertaining as I hoped

[sprstdlyscottsmn]

The F-22 is NOT in Production, it cost $150,000,000 in 2009 dollars so thats $200,000,000+ now, and it is INFERIOR to the F-35 in every role other than Air Dominance and Interception. It has inferior A2G radar modes, inferior A2G weapons, inferior RWR/ECM, inferior datalinking, no IRST, no sperical IR tracking/targeting, and less range.

[spazsinbad]

'2c4e4076-bffc-11e3-9e64-000bcdcb2996's REIGN OF TERROR over at SNAFU on the 'Oz Buys F-35s' thread mentioned earlier has ended. IT (2c4e4076-bffc-11e3-9e64-000bcdcb2996) has gone to the great NIFCA in the sky. PACE. SemperFi.

OOPs '2c4e4076-bffc-11e3-9e64-000bcdcb2996' is on this thread but whatever: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=25424&start=15

[SpudmanWP]

The F-22 is NOT ....

WAIT!!!!

Who gave you permission to bring FACTs into this?

[spazsinbad]

Australia Raises their F-35 Commitment 24 Apr 2014 Defense Industry Daily staff

"Australia’s new Liberal Party government has announced that they’ll buy up to 58 F-35s, raising the RAAF’s approved fleet size to the 72 aircraft mentioned in the Labor Party’s May 2013 White Paper. They’re saying that the money has been reserved by successive governments, leaving them a budget of A$ 12.4 billion, minus about A$ 1.6 billion for required support infrastructure at RAAFB Williamtown, NSW and RAAFB Tindal, Northern Territory.

RAAF F-35As: Fleet Plans
The RAAF has already ordered 2 F-35As, which are scheduled to begin arriving in 2018, but a recent GAO report external link indicates that they aren’t likely to be fully combat-ready by then due to software delays. Another 12 F-35As were approved to buy in 2009, but haven’t been placed under contract yet [being negotiated however]. These 14 aircraft are more likely to be ready by 2021, which is when RAAF No.3 Squadron is supposed to be operational.

It will need to be, because the last of the RAAF’s 71 modernized F/A-18AM/BM Hornets is scheduled to leave service in 2022. Additional F-35 orders will begin with 8 aircraft, probably in 2015, and continue over a number of years. All 72 of the F-35s are supposed to arrive by 2023, however, which suggests that 70 fighters will be ordered over the next 7 years....

...Decision time
Finally, it’s worth pointing out that this is an announcement, not a contract. [duh] Furthermore, Australia’s budget is supposedly fixed. If F-35 costs remain high until 2020, and rework to correct faults found in testing becomes expensive, it will lead to cuts in Australian orders. Even so, the announcement is a clear sign that Australia’s Super Hornet fleet won’t be growing past 36 planes....

...Options & Decisions
Initial F-35As with Block 3F software will have a very limited set of weapons, including only AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, laser-guided bombs, and GPS-guided JDAM/ Small Diameter Bomb Is internally. Shorter-range AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles can be carried externally, at some level of cost to the plane’s stealth profile....

...Once Block 4 software is integrated in the early 2020s, it would add Kongsberg’s stealthy Joint Strike Missile for anti-ship and land attack roles, creating a significant increase in combat power. The missile’s unique selling point will be its status as the fighter’s 1st powered strike weapon, and internal carriage in the F-35 that allows the fighter to maintain stealth. Norway is buying F-35As as well, which means that integration will be available as a defined, off-the-shelf add-on for Australia’s fleet."

SOURCE: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/aus ... nt-023629/

[spazsinbad]

Wow. I had thought - and been told as the PM recently stated - that money was already put aside to buy the F-35As and that that amount of money was limited but nevertheless sufficient in context of the intended buy. WTF? Over.

Defence challenge: reconciling Australia's warfare shopping list with reality 28 Apr 2014 Hugh White

"Abbott wants us to believe there's a full piggy bank for defence, but there isn't.

Last week the government decided to buy 58 F-35 fighter aircraft for $12.4 billion. When asked where the money would come from, the Prime Minister reassured us that it was already there. “It's money which successive governments have carefully put aside to ensure that our nation's defences are strong,” he said.

This suggests that Tony Abbott believes there is a special savings account somewhere – almost like a piggy bank – into which successive governments have been dutifully depositing money for years. We just have to break it open to find the cash to buy our new fighters.

Abbott was happy to share the credit with Labor for such far-sighted thriftiness. “The way successive governments to their credit have tried to do these things is... to start putting the money aside now for the major purchases that you need in the future to keep your defence forces effective and operational.”

Alas this is not true. There is no piggy bank. Instead there is just a plan. Ever since 2000 the government has been planning to spend a lot of money on new fighters, but plans are not hard cash. The money itself will still have to be found in each budget as the bills for the F-35 come in, year by year, over the next decade....

...And now the government has committed itself to a big fleet of F-35s.... I do not think that decision is in itself a mistake. 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....

...Hugh White is an Age columnist and professor of strategic studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU."

http://images.watoday.com.au/2014/04/28 ... 20x349.jpg Illustration: Rod Clement.

SOURCE: http://www.watoday.com.au/comment/defen ... zr0ng.html

[spazsinbad]

Australian Buy Comes at Key Time for F-35 Program 28 Apr 2014 NIGEL PITTAWAY & AARON MEHTA

"MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, AND WASHINGTON — When Australia announced it would purchase 58 F-35A joint strike fighters last week, it agreed to the single largest batch of F-35s acquired by an international partner to date — an important milestone for a program that appears headed to smaller domestic buys than planned....

...MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, AND WASHINGTON — When Australia announced it would purchase 58 F-35A joint strike fighters last week, it agreed to the single largest batch of F-35s acquired by an international partner to date — an important milestone for a program that appears headed to smaller domestic buys than planned....

...“If our partners and FMS [Foreign Military Sales] customers start shifting planes to the right, with them about 50 percent of the airplanes we’re going to build in the next five years, you will see the price change,” Bogdan said.

However, he cautioned that this does not mean a major price increase if partners cut their orders.

“When I say the price changes, everybody thinks the price is going up,” Bogdan said. “It’s not really going up. ... It’s not going down as fast as it would have otherwise. The price is still going to go down, lot after lot after lot, because we’re ramping up.”...

...Australian Defence Minister Sen. David Johnston told Radio National that the government has a risk-mitigation strategy if costs increase to unacceptable levels.

“If Australia decides that cost has blown out to such an extent, we are not bound to continue,” Johnston said.

“We are committed to the program. Every indicator at the moment indicates costs are headed in the right direction for us,” he said. “But should there be a major turnaround in cost, then the option is available for us to leave the program.”

SOURCE: http://www.defensenews.com/article/2014 ... /304280012

[gtx]

Let's spice this up with some images - here are some Fictional RAAF F-35 profiles done for me a while back Many are retro style schemes envisaging some interesting paint schemes for the RAAF's 100th Anniversary in 2021. The rest take inspiration from F-111 or F/A-18A schemes:







The last one is one my office wall at work!

[spazsinbad]

'gtx' thanks for the graphics. What is the story about the 'piggy bank' not being there (seen in the WHITE article above) - is that true?