Australia's National Security Committee is expected to give initial project approvals by year-end to launch an open competition for a new light tactical airlifter to replace the nation's de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribous.
Royal Australian Air Force sources said during the Australian air show in March that a sole-source acquisition of the Alenia Aeronautica C-27J Spartan was being actively planned, but the Australian government now says there will be a fully competitive tender process.
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Firm timings for the committee meeting remain volatile, with a national election looming before the end of this year, but current plans are focused on October. The same meeting will discuss revisions to Australia's rolling 10-year defence capability plan, with an interim version to first go before the Department of Defence's peak capability planning committee during September.
Australia plans to launch acquisitions totalling between A$11 billion ($9 billion) and A$15 billion over the next 12 months, including funding for its initial purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and endurance unmanned air vehicles to be acquired in co-operation with the US Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance programme.
The committee's discussion of airlift requirements is also expected to include endorsement of plans for a follow-on acquisition of Lockheed C-130Js to partially replace the RAAF's C-130Hs, in use since 1978. A new aerospace projects guide issued by Australia's Defence Materiel Organisation on 22 August confirms: "The C-130H will be progressively withdrawn and replaced with the C-130J and [Boeing] C-17 from 2012." Canberra has already received two C-17s, with its remaining two to follow by mid-2008.
Lockheed says initial talks are being held with the DMO for more C-130Js, but that firm numbers and delivery schedules will depend on government decisions. RAAF sources indicate a six-aircraft order is possible, although a study of missionised variants has also been conducted to meet Australian special forces requirements such as in-flight refuelling of helicopters.
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Source: Flight International
