Defence budget crisis forces Canberra to pull out
The Australian government has terminated plans to join the US Navy's P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) development programme due to a rapidly escalating crisis in defence acquisition spending.
Defence minister Robert Hill made the decision in late April, a matter of days before an Australian Department of Defence project team was to go to the USA and start negotiations. Hill also vetoed Australian participation in a USN-organised meeting of potential MMA programme partners held earlier this month in the Canadian capital, Ottawa.
Hill has instead told the Australian DoD to reassess its maritime surveillance requirements, with an emphasis on a service life extension for the Royal Australian Air Force's Lockheed Martin AP-3Cs.
Boeing Australia says it still considers Australia to be a potential P-8A customer. "The Australian government has told us that it will continue to assess MMA as a future capability option," it says.
In May, the Australian Defence Materiel Organisation, which co-ordinates the country's military acquisitions, closed its MMA industrial participation project office, transferring staff to its Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) industrial programme office. Well-placed sources say the Australian DoD was unable to provide Hill with a cost-benefit analysis of participation in the MMA's system development and demonstration phase relative to extending the life of the AP-3C fleet, and that this was a major factor in the veto decision.
The RAAF was not prepared to contest his decision, because the cost of buying the P-8A could jeopardise the potential size of its future JSF purchase.
At a meeting on 31 May, the National Security Committee of the Australian Cabinet was scheduled to discuss looming defence acquisition budget problems. Australia's multi-year defence capability plan (DCP) is currently facing an A$2 billion ($1.5 billion) shortfall. Canberra plans to issue a new version of the DCP in late June, with widespread project cuts and rescheduling anticipated, including to its planned acquisition of multimission high-altitude long-endurance manned air vehicles.
PETER LA FRANCHI/CANBERRA
Source: Flight International
