Australian lawmakers confident in F-35's future

[rheonomic]

Don't tell the birds this, but we're preparing for the second Emu War.

Hope it goes better than the last one...

[popcorn]

Don't tell the birds this, but we're preparing for the second Emu War.

Hope it goes better than the last one...

[Conan]

If a shootin' war breaks out somewhere... 3900 doesn't seem like very many...

We also ordered up to 2950x SDB I all up rounds in 2016...

http://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/au ... ncrement-i

Plus we have been using as others have said up to 100 per month of JDAM and Paveway variants in Iraq and Syria.
For the last few years...

All up that has to be one of the larger PGM inventories around, particularly among ‘middle powers’.

[white_lightning35]

If a shootin' war breaks out somewhere... 3900 doesn't seem like very many...

We also ordered up to 2950x SDB I all up rounds in 2016...

http://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/au ... ncrement-i

Plus we have been using as others have said up to 100 per month of JDAM and Paveway variants in Iraq and Syria.
For the last few years...

All up that has to be one of the larger PGM inventories around, particularly among ‘middle powers’.

I think that the RAAF is becoming far more powerful than many expected and is looking at a huge increase in capabilities over the next 5-10 years. The RAN and army aren't there yet but things look pretty good in the future for the ADF as a whole, which is definitely needed what with the issues going on in Asia/Oceania.

[viper12]

If a shootin' war breaks out somewhere... 3900 doesn't seem like very many...

We also ordered up to 2950x SDB I all up rounds in 2016...

http://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/au ... ncrement-i

Plus we have been using as others have said up to 100 per month of JDAM and Paveway variants in Iraq and Syria.
For the last few years...

All up that has to be one of the larger PGM inventories around, particularly among ‘middle powers’.

It's definitely confirmed ; Australia plans to win the next 2 Emu Wars !

[optimist]

If a shootin' war breaks out somewhere... 3900 doesn't seem like very many...

we plug into the USA supply and they'd ramp up production if anything hit the fan.
During the early Iraqi war, we used and were billed for USA munitions on our hornets and our stuff stayed home. I don't know, but I guess it's the same with the hornets in the ME now.

[beepa]

If a shootin' war breaks out somewhere... 3900 doesn't seem like very many...

We also ordered up to 2950x SDB I all up rounds in 2016...

http://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/au ... ncrement-i

Plus we have been using as others have said up to 100 per month of JDAM and Paveway variants in Iraq and Syria.
For the last few years...

All up that has to be one of the larger PGM inventories around, particularly among ‘middle powers’.

It's definitely confirmed ; Australia plans to win the next 2 Emu Wars !

Word on the street is now that we have vast experience in the complex Emu battlefield there will be an expeditionary force set up to battle the Ostrich insurgency. God help us all.

[neptune]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/onlin ... a289822ab7

Top secret information about Australia’s military hacked

Lisa Martin
October 12, 2017

TOP secret technical information about new fighter jets, navy vessels, and surveillance aircraft has been stolen from an Australian defense contractor. Dan Tehan, the minister in charge of cyber security, on Tuesday confirmed the hacking of an unnamed contractor. Hackers spent months downloading sensitive information about Australia’s warplanes, navy ships and bomb kits. Australian authorities criticized the defense contractor for “sloppy admin” and it turns out almost anybody could have penetrated the company’s network. Hackers initially gained access by exploiting a 12-month-old vulnerability in the company’s IT helpdesk portal but they could have just walked in the front door. The investigation by Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) found the company had not changed its default passwords on its internet facing services. The admin password, to enter the company’s web portal, was ‘admin’ and the guest password was ‘guest’. ASD is not ruling out a foreign state power as being behind the hack. It dubbed the hacker “ALF”, after a character in TV soap opera Home and Away. Government cyber officials started fixing the system in December last year and referred to the, roughly, three month period before that as “Alf’s Mystery Happy Fun Time”.

ASD incident response manager Mitchell Clarke told a conference in Sydney on Wednesday the hackers targeted a small “mum and dad type business” — an aerospace engineering company with about 50 employees in July last year.
He said the firm was subcontracted four levels down from defense contracts. “The compromise was extensive and extreme,” Mr Clarke told the Australian Information Security Association national conference in audio obtained by a freelance journalist called Stilgherrian. “It included information on the (F-35) Joint Strike Fighter, C130 (Hercules aircraft), the P-8 Poseidon (surveillance aircraft), joint direct attack munition (JDAM smart bomb kits) and a few naval vessels.” Mr Clarke said the information hacked on the new Navy ships included a diagram in which you could zoom in down to the captain’s chair and see that it was one meter away from the navigation chair. Mr Clarke described the security breach as “sloppy admin”. He said the organization only had one IT person and that person had only been in the job for a short while. An Australian Cyber Security Centre spokesperson said the information released by the ASD staffer, who works for the center, was commercially sensitive but unclassified. “While the Australian company is a national-security linked contractor and the information disclosed was commercially sensitive, it was unclassified,” they said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “The government does not intend to discuss further the details of this cyber incident.” Comment has been sought from Mr Tehan and the Defense department.

[spazsinbad]

Here we go again with another witches brew storm in a teacup - for gorsake the headline does not match the story....

"... An Australian Cyber Security Centre spokesperson said the information released by the ASD staffer, who works for the center, was commercially sensitive but unclassified. “While the Australian company is a national-security linked contractor and the information disclosed was commercially sensitive, it was unclassified,” they said in a statement on Wednesday evening...." [where are 'the top secrets'? SAFE]

[neptune]

Here we go again ....

....clickbate??

[spazsinbad]

Here is an honest headline at least - text looks OK but I have not read it yet - I JUST READ THE FRICKIN' HEADLINES ma'am.

F-35 data stolen in Australian hack...but no classified info
12 Oct 2017 Valerie Insinna

"WASHINGTON — The 2016 hacking of an Australian company, which resulted in the theft of data from military programs like the F-35 and P-8 surveillance aircraft, did not compromise any classified information linked to the joint strike fighter, the F-35 program office has confirmed.

“The F-35 Joint Program Office is aware of this supplier cyber breach that compromised non-classified data in the summer of 2016,” Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the F-35 joint program office, told Defense News. “No classified F-35 information was compromised.”...

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia ... fied-info/

[spazsinbad]

‘No Classified F-35 Info’ Stolen: Defense Contractor Hacked In Australia
12 Oct 2017 Colin Clark

"WASHINGTON: An unnamed contractor in Australia was hacked by an unattributed hacker who stole what the BBC says was “sensitive” information about the F-35 and other Antipodean weapon systems.

“It could be one of a number of different actors,” Christopher Pyne, the minister for defense industry, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday. “It could be a state actor, [or] a non-state actor. It could be someone who was working for another company.”

The BBC describes Pyne as saying “he had been assured the theft was not a risk to national security.”

I contacted the F-35 Joint Program Office, asking how significant the hack was. Here’s their response: “The F-35 Joint Program Office is aware of this supplier cyber breach that compromised non-classified data in the summer of 2016. No classified F-35 information was compromised.”..."

Source: https://breakingdefense.com/2017/10/no- ... australia/

[spazsinbad]

Page 14 this thread there is an article with quotes about first three ship then four ship F-35A RAAF formation. PDF below.

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=23043&p=315303&hilit=Kerr#p315303

[white_lightning35]

With Canada looking into buying Hornets from Australia, how will plane numbers be affected for the RAAF? I'm guessing that Ozland wasn't planning on getting rid of them so soon, so wouldn't there be many less planes than expected should a buy go through? What are the implications of this?

[spazsinbad]

Let us not get too far ahead. AFAIK Canadian Politicians are just bullcrapping as per usual in an effort to delay making a decision for the F-35 sometime in the never never. So far they have flopped and flipped so much I know why a FISHeries Lady is in charge and she is probably gasping for air like a fish out of water. Meanwhile at this forum earl you will find the RAAF timeline with the last lot being available in 2023 so around then all our clapped out Hornets will be available - who knows if we sell them in dribs & drabs or even AT ALL: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=23043&p=374481&hilit=timeline#p374481