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Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton and Shadow Minister for Defence, Andrew Hastie have announced plans to reinstate the planned acquisition of a fourth squadron of F-35A fighter aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force.
As anticipation about the upcoming Federal Election heats up and amid growing national security concerns, the Coalition appears to have fired the first salvo, with Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton and Shadow Minister for Defence, Andrew Hastie confirming an elected Dutton Government would "reinstate" the acquisition of a fourth F-35 Lightning II squadron for the Royal Australian Air Force.
This commitment would see an additional AU$3 billion to fund the acquisition of up to 28 additional F-35A Lightning II fighter aircraft, bringing the nation's total F-35 acquisition to 100, as was originally planned in the program of record with Lockheed Martin.
The Coalition announcement stated the speed to delivering the capability to the Royal Australian Air Force, stating, "Negotiations will commence immediately upon coming to government to ensure we can acquire the aircraft in a timely manner; with the aim to begin delivery of additional aircraft within the next five years."
Australia received it's first F-35A Lightning II, in 2018, and has steadily grown it's fleet of fifth generation fighter aircraft since then, culminating in the delivery of the "final" of the original 72 aircraft in 2023.
The Coalition added, "Labor has cut, delayed and reprioritised more than $80 billion of funding from Defence. This is a Government who less than a year after promising to grow defence spending to 2.4 per cent of GDP, have backflipped and reduced the target to “over 2.3 percent”."
For the RAAF, the F-35A’s combination of full-spectrum, low-observable stealth coatings and materials; advanced radar-dispersing shaping, network-centric sensor; and communications suites – combined with a lethal strike capability – means the aircraft will be the ultimate force multiplying air-combat platform.
Australia has committed to purchasing 72 of the advanced fifth-generation fighter aircraft as part of the AU$17 billion AIR 6000 Phase 2A/B program to replace the ageing F/A-18A/B Classic Hornets that have been in service with the RAAF since 1985.
More to come.
