Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA
Australia's Department of Defence is seeking to sell its PGSUS AGM-142/E Popeye stand-off missiles, possibly to Greece, to fund the purchase of Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) for the Royal Australian Air Force's strike capability.
The plan was the subject of a series of meetings in Canberra last week attended by the Australian DoD, Lockheed Martin (a partner in PGSUS with Rafael the weapon developer) and the US Air Force. The meetings were scheduled to reconvene in Canberra on 5 February as Flight International closed for press.
Discussions have included options for paying off the Australian purchase, the possible transfer of remaining payment liabilities to the buyer nation, USAF support for any purchaser and the interim storage of Australia's stock of over 90 missiles in the USA.
Senior DoD representatives also advised Lockheed Martin and the USAF that no final decision on an AGM-142 sale or retention has been taken. Conflicting information from other DoD sources, however, indicates that the necessary decisions to divest the AGM-142s were taken last November.
The sources indicate that the strategy does not automatically indicate an imminent Australian JASSM order. Instead, the Australian DoD is likely to contract Lockheed Martin to design and integrate the weapon on the General Dynamics F-111C/G and Lockheed Martin AP-3C Orion pending a warstock order in the 2004-05 defence budget.
Australia had explored selling the AGM-142s to South Korea during the second half of 2000. Discussions with the Greek air force are understood to be tentative, but if a deal proceeds then the missiles will be used to equip upgraded McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms.
Australia shortlisted JASSM and the Taurus KEPD 350 to meet its Follow On Stand-Off Weapon requirement last July, with JASSM the acknowledged preferred solution. Shortly after, the DoD's head of aerospace acquisition, Air Vice Marshal Ray Conroy, wrote to the Pentagon seeking data on the cost of cancelling the AGM-142.
A second letter, written by Conroy in early October, advised that Australia considered the cancellation cost as excessive and that it would seek a sale to a third nation. US support was requested for the move.
Only a limited number of AGM-142s and datalink pods have been delivered. The project is well behind schedule and over cost because of integration problems with the F-111C's mission system.
Source: Flight International
