From Defense Industry Daily:
"May 3/13: White Paper. Australia’s Labor government releases its 2013 Defence White Paper. It commits Australia to 3 F-35 squadrons (72 planes), which is pretty meaningless from a government that will be long gone before those larger buys become reality. It is a good way of spending less now by promising more later, knowing all the while that the promise isn’t likely to be kept. The Labor government adds that any decision on a 4th F-35 squadron to replace the Super Hornet fleets won’t be made until “around 2030.” Given budgetary entitlements and demographic realities, we wouldn’t bet on that, either.
As a matter of more immediate interest, Australia’s plans for their Super Hornet fleet have changed:
“…the Government has decided to retain the current 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets (one operational squadron) in their current air combat and strike capability configuration. The Government has also decided to acquire 12 new-build EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft instead of converting 12 of Australia’s existing F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft into the Growler configuration.”
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/aus ... nuereading