Australian lawmakers confident in F-35's future

[spazsinbad]

Are you Australian? Did you read the article you referenced? It says this:

"...Wing Commander Michael Grant, Commanding Officer of Number 75 Squadron, said the purpose of Exercise Elang AUSINDO 17 is to enhance, develop and promote the international engagement between TNI-AU and RAAF. “Our squadron has enjoyed a close working relationship with the Indonesian Air Force through Exercise Elang AUSINDO,” Wing Commander Grant said. “Routine engagement such as this ensures that the relationship between our air forces is fostered at the individual level, as well as between our organisations.” First held in 1995, Exercise Elang AUSINDO has been hosted previously in Darwin in 2009 and 2013."

Every now and then there is a diplomatic spat between Indonesia & Australia - usually resolved quickly. Two very different countries getting along these days well mostly. Sure a few decades ago with East Timor there were problems - resolved. Then there is West Papua / New Guinea festering but nothing new for some time. Does that answer your question?

[white_lightning35]

That does help my answer my question. I asked because frequently people have to play nice with each other ( see NATO and Turkey) because of politics.

And no, I am not Australian. Is that a prerequisite to comment here?

P.s I still think it would be interesting to have f-35's and su-35's together.

[spazsinbad]

I was curious as to how to answer the question without typing for centuries. 'Play Nice' is always on the cards for military to military exercises no matter what the persuasion. Militaries of countries are not the same as governments of countries.

In future there will be lots of opportunities for F-35s to exercise with all kinds of other aircraft of different capabilities.

[Dragon029]

Nevermind

[spazsinbad]

'Dragon029' this political stuff is not related to the F-35 nor reasonable for this thread. However you have strange ideas as expressed in this tidbit of yours: "...Australia would ideally like Indonesia to be a trustworthy, allied, subordinate nation (like Papua New Guinea & New Zealand)...." Please take this political discussion elsewhere. You can start the topic along these lines in the appropriate forum here. Thanks.

[Dragon029]

New Zealand was a poor example, but subordinate isn't meant to be derogatory in any way; I mean it in the context of an ally or friend that shares the same interests / initiatives; someone that will go to war if you go to war. The reason I went with "subordinate" (though it's probably not the right word) was in reference to the difference in economic and military power rather than a relationship of employment.

[spazsinbad]

Fair enough however any further discussion should not be on this thread. It is bleedin' tiresome to have irrelevant politics in threads about F-35s, especially this Australian one which is the only one; let us keep it going just with relevant content.

[spazsinbad]

F-35A Australian Federal Government/RAAF milestones/future things OCT 2017 PDF attached:

http://www.defence.gov.au/casg/Multimed ... 9-8189.pdf

[white_lightning35]

What does the F-35 maintenence training starting in Australia entail, and will it be an important change? Is it something along the lines of the maintainers were training in the US and when they are ready they go back and start training new ones? So many unimportant questions....

[SpudmanWP]

Up until now, all Austrailian maintainers have been US trained. Doing it down under (ie in-house) is a big step.

[spazsinbad]

Some recent maintainer of the RAAF F-35A variety news
http://australianaviation.com.au/2017/0 ... -progress/
&
https://www.qt.com.au/news/aussie-tech- ... a/3210357/

[white_lightning35]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationa ... e8bfaebc81

It seems now that the f-35 is winning over at least much of the Oz media, which is nice. It really sinks in now that the recent Red Flags were a big deal to many, what with the results that are often touted. That's not including the contracts will also help a lot.

It's almost like the people here knew what they were talking about.

[sunstersun]

All the PR problems will go away once the multi year block buy is signed.

[optimist]

It will be back to articles about current frog tigers and subs. That will be enough for years

[spazsinbad]

Noted page 39 this thread: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=23043&p=371080&hilit=jammer#p371080

RAAF to assist in development of next generation jammer
02 Nov 2017 Greg Waldron

"The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the US Navy to jointly develop the of the Raytheon AN/ALQ-249 next generation jammer mid-band capability (NGJ-MB). The MOU defines the scope of communication, coordination, and cooperation during the engineering and manufacturing of NGJ-MB, says Australia's department of defence in a statement.

The AN/ALQ-249 will equip the Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft. The only operators of the type are the RAAF and US Navy. “This is a very important milestone for both nations, one that took four years of communication and collaboration to successfully achieve,” says RAAF air marshal Leo Davies. “As this is a rapidly evolving area, we will work in partnership with the US Navy to develop the next generation jamming capability, which will ensure that our aircraft remain at the technological forefront throughout their service life.”"

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... et-442816/