PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA

The Royal Australian Air Force has failed to win approval for an immediate purchase of Lockheed AGM-158 JASSM stand-off missiles, but has secured Australian Government permission to seek a buyer for its PGSUS AGM-142 Have Nap/Popeye missiles.

The bid, made last month to defence minister Peter Reith, has also resulted in a decision to involve AGM-142 designer Rafael in the troubled integration of the missile onto RAAF's General Dynamics F-111s.

The submission is widely viewed by Australian industry analysts as a last-ditch effort to leverage a JASSM purchase by Chief of the Australian Air Force Air Marshal Errol McCormack, who retires this week. He sought the weapon to ensure the RAAF retains a long-range strike capability if the F-111 fails to reach its retirement target of 2015.

Reith's office last week released a statement to Flight International confirming that a submission had been received and that the sale of Australia's AGM-142s continues to be explored.

The statement says: "Last month the department sought ministerial agreement to further investigate the business case for disposing of the AGM-142 with the possible objective of moving to one of the latest high capability long range missiles. In that context [the minister] was briefed on what was known about the state of the market for AGM-142, current developments in stand-off missiles and advised of the potential financial and capability risks.

"The minister indicated that he was not convinced that all possible steps had been taken to address the current difficulties with AGM-142 and would require further information before he could consider the proposal to develop the business case [for a new missile]. He did recognise that the AGM-142 project schedule had slipped and there were some integration difficulties."

Australia last year selected JASSM after an 18-month competition, but funding shortfalls have delayed an acquisition decision until after 2005. The RAAF has since repeatedly tried to find alternative means to acquire JASSM, with the AGM-142 sale being explored in co-operation with PGSUS partner Lockheed Martin and, for a short time, EADS.

The statement confirms that Rafael is to be given an active role in AGM-142 integration for the first time. Boeing Australia has tried to integrate the basic AGM-142 weapon onto the RAAF F-111s.

Source: Flight International