Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE
ELBIT IS PRESSING the Australian Government to reconsider its earlier decision not to allow the Aero Vodochody L-59F, on which it is teamed, to compete for the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) lead-in-fighter competition.
According to local sources, Israeli interests are lobbying hard in Canberra to get the L-59F re-enlisted. A final decision is not expected until after Elbit president Emanuel Gill meets with Australian defence minister Senator Robert Ray on 8 September.
The L-59F was recently dropped from the competition, along with the Dassault Alpha Jet ATS, by Ray (Flight International, 9-15 August, P14). With the earlier withdrawal of the Alenia AMX-T, only the Aermacchi MB.339FD, British Aerospace Hawk 100 and McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk are left in the competition.
While elimination of the Alpha Jet had been expected because of Australia's nuclear-test row with France, Ray's decision to exclude the International Turbine Engine F124-100-powered L-59F caught many by surprise, including the RAAF's lead-in-fighter project team.
The move is understood to have been prompted by concern within the Department of Defence's Acquisition and Logistics Organisation over the technical risk and cost of Elbit's proposed F-59F digital upgrade.
New systems would include a weapons-delivery and navigation system and head-up and multi-function displays linked by a 1553B databus.
Dropping the L-59F has further aggravated an on-going "bureaucratic war" within the defence department between uniformed military staff and the largely civilian-run Acquisition and Logistics Organisation over control of equipment selection.
The row has delayed important defence programmes, including the RAAF's lead-in fighter project.
Source: Flight International