PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA
Canberra studying options for retaining F/A-18s and F-111s in service until Joint Strike Fighter arrives after 2010
Australia will not decide on launching an interim fighter programme for at least two years, according to defence minister Robert Hill.
Canberra's preference is to retain current frontline aircraft until a Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) purchase after 2010.
The Royal Australian Air Force will undertake a two-year study of options for the remaining service lives of its Boeing F/A-18 Hornet and General Dynamics F-111 fleets. Boeing, Lockheed Martin - the F-111 design authority - and the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation will support the studies.
Hill says Australia hopes to avoid an interim aircraft programme "principally because of the costs and we are in the midst of a major project at the moment to determine how that can be achieved. [This] may involve things such as using the aircraft in different ways, various upgrade issues and so forth."
He adds: "That study is going to take about two years. But the approach that we have directed the air force to take, which they accept, is to endeavour to avoid the need for a transitional aircraft."
Hill says Canberra's preferred position is to "focus on the JSF. We have got sufficient time now to ensure that we get that right in terms of all of the weapons and the systems integration, and that is integration not only within the aircraft but also within all other elements of the Australian Defence Force."
Hill warns an interim aircraft could weaken that effort.
Source: Flight International
