Final flight plans for F-111

[Guest Glenn]

Source: The Australian

 

AAP

 

March 10, 2006

 

THE fate of the Royal Australian Air Force's veteran F-111 fleet will be decided in the next couple of months as plans firm for the acquisition of up to 100 new Joint Strike Fighters.

 

RAAF head Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd said the plan was to retire the F-111s in 2010, but that could be stretched to 2012.

 

"F-111 retirement is still linked to the Hornet upgrade. 2010 is our desired time frame. We always had a hedging out to 2012 and we are looking at that," he said.

 

"We need to make a decision on that in the next couple of months and it will depend very much how the Hornet upgrade is going.

 

"But the important point to make is that we need to get out of the F-111 business before we get into the JSF business."

 

Australia ordered 24 F-111s in 1963 but technical problems meant the first did not arrive until 1973.

 

Under current plans, both the F-111 and Hornet fleets will be replaced by the advanced Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF, which is scheduled to enter service in the period from 2012 to 2014. Each JSF now has a nominal price of $65.7 million with the entire program worth up to $16billion.

 

RAAF Hornets are now being upgraded with new weapons and electronics so they can fill the gap between the retirement of the F-111s and the arrival of the JSFs.

 

Air Marshal Shepherd said some elements of the Hornet upgrade, including installation of new radars and weapons, had proceeded smoothly. "But a lot of the electronic early warning stuff is developmental. It's being made in Australia with BAE Systems and DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organisation). So they are ambitious programs," he said.

 

He said the RAAF had conducted some preliminary studies that indicated it would need about 100 JSFs to replace 21 operational F-111s and 71 Hornets.

 

He said the US Quadrennial Defence Review - the four-yearly review of US defence programs released last month - made no mortal cuts to JSF, although some flexibility had gone.

 

"The price has gone up slightly and we are looking to see how that will affect us," he said.

 

"But the figure of 100 is still affordable and within the program, and the detailed analysis we will conduct throughout the year - with our force development people and the scientific modelling with DSTO and in America - will define the number.

 

"But the figure of 100 is not far off the mark."

 

 

[Guest Cat on a PC©]

"But the important point to make is that we need to get out of the F-111 business before we get into the JSF business."

Perhaps they better wait till they get into the JSF business BEFORE they get out of the F-111 business. If there will ever be a JSF business.

 

Idiots. These are the same people who want to bolt on stand-off weapons on Orions!

 

Perhaps they had better have a look at buying 100 MIGs. They look pretty capable to me!