SUPER HORNETS MAY BE FLYING TO some WRONG NEST !

[uy707]

DATE:04/01/08
SOURCE:Flight International
Australia to review Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet purchase
By Emma Kelly

Australia's newly elected Labor government is to review the country's air power capability, in a controversial move that could see the previous administration's A$6.6 billion ($5.8 billion) order for 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets dumped, and the planned purchase of up to 100 Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters also face a fresh assessment.

Australia became the first export customer for the Super Hornet (US Navy F/A-18F pictured below) last March, with its two-seat fighters scheduled for delivery from 2010 as replacements for the Royal Australian Air Force's General Dynamics F-111s. The aircraft are also intended to provide a stop-gap capability until the planned introduction of Australia's JSFs from 2013 at the earliest.


© US Navy


The F/A-18F deal drew considerable opposition at the time, with claims that the then-defence minister and now opposition leader Brendan Nelson rejected expert advice before advancing with the order. Critics say the procurement was also conducted without strategic justification or comparative analysis, and insist it would be cheaper to extend the F-111's service life, or replace the Super Hornet and JSF purchases with an order for Lockheed's F-22 Raptor. However, one industry source notes that US Congress has so far blocked Japan's requests to buy the F-22, and says development of an export variant could cost up to $1 billion.

Australia's new defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon will launch a thorough review of the previous government's military spending as soon as possible, with this to include an examination of the RAAF's air combat options. He has also committed to develop a new defence policy White Paper to provide strategic guidance for capability and force structure planning.

Boeing declines to comment on speculation about the Super Hornet deal's possible cancellation, or on reports citing a possible $300 million charge for terminating the deal. "We are under contract, and the Australian aircraft are already in the production process," the company adds.

Additional reporting by Craig Hoyle in London

[tsv]

This order looks set to get canned which would be a case of common sense prevailing. Frankly I expected our new government to be more foolish than the former one with regard to defence spending so this news is a pleasant surprise.

It was always going to be a gross waste of taxpayers $ buying an out of date fighter clearly inferior to the SU-30's many of our neighbours possess.

With regard to Fighters the top priority for the RAAF should be to buy a couple of squadrons of Raptors. If the Yanks won't play then buy the Eurofighter. Procuring JSF makes little sense IMO and ordering Superhornets was completely ridiculous.

[seahawk]

I disagree. The F-111s are tired and very hard to keep flying as spares are getting rare and the airframes are becoming maintenance nightmares. So if you want and have to replace them quickly there are only a limited number of options available.

1. F-22 : Very expensive, limited in ground attack mode to JDAMs, not sure if you get them
2. F-35 : Not ready before 2013 at best and then would still need to cleared for weapons etc.
3. F-15E/K : Available now. Huge range of weapons, good range. Can drop more or less anything
4. F-18 E/F : Available now. AESA radar, towed decoy, best avionics apart from F-22 (and that could be discussed). Limited range and payload. Wide range of weapons cleared. Will stay in US service a long time. Could be converted to G configuration if F-35 arrives.
5. F-16 C Block 52 or F-16E : Cheap. Huge range of weapons. Conformal fuel tanks and AESA are ready.
6. EF : Available now. Probably second only to F-22 in air combat. But only limited ground attack capability with Tranche 2. Tranche 3 won´t be ready before 2010/11. Expensive.
7. Rafale : Available now. Expensive. Ground attack ready but with limited weapons cleared. Few of the weapons systems used by the RAAF cleared.

So imho SuperBug was not that bad a choice.

[uy707]

At time being, the EF and Rafale have a limited array of weapons cleared, but this may goes up with time. More weapons can be cleared as things go on while Rafales are being dispatched to Kandahar and Manama.

[tsv]

Our new government has confirmed it is every bit as stupid as I feared and confirmed the Hornet contract.

Now us tax payers get to spend a fortune on outdated rubbish which virtually all of our neighbours can pulverise with their Sukhois at their leisure. Great!

[DeskFlyer]

Now us tax payers get to spend a fortune on outdated rubbish which virtually all of our neighbours can pulverise with their Sukhois at their leisure. Great!

It's not like we're having weekly dogfights with our neighbours since the end of WW2 though is it?

I agree the Super Hornet procurement was poorly managed but I don't see a lot of viable options, aside from extending the service life of the F-111's and given US congress will not approve the F-22 for sale to foreign countries.
Australia also has a shedload of bucks tied up in development of the F-35, it would be foolish to not actually order any.

[FireLight]

It's not like we're having weekly dogfights with our neighbours since the end of WW2 though is it?

I agree the Super Hornet procurement was poorly managed but I don't see a lot of viable options, aside from extending the service life of the F-111's and given US congress will not approve the F-22 for sale to foreign countries.
Australia also has a shedload of bucks tied up in development of the F-35, it would be foolish to not actually order any.

Here's an excellent overview of the Flanker versus the alternatives.

http://www.ausairpower.net/DT-SuperBug-vs-Flanker.html

It certainly looks like a challenge to maintain a degree of parity, even with the F-35, and it is likely that the development of better missiles and BVR capabilities will make the difference between success or failure if the aircraft are called upon for the defence of Australia and the region. The Flanker is a highly capable aircraft and is being supplied in sufficient numbers that it looks like it would be a significant challenge for any possible alternative available to Australia in the short term or medium term (especially considering the economics of the various airframes and support). As noted, the F-22 is not likely to ever serve outside of the U.S. Air Force, and the current procurement for this aircraft limits its use for deployment for worldwide defence, especially if they stick with the currently approved 183 airframes (U.S. Air Force wants 381). The Americans are also experiencing serious trouble with their F-15 airframes, and have retired a number of other types, so they are being squeezed from both ends in terms of maintaining their existing fleet until the replacement airframes can be provided.

Given these challenges, perhaps the best move for the Australians would be to talk to the Russians and buy a fleet of Flankers of their own.

[tsv]

It's not like we're having weekly dogfights with our neighbours since the end of WW2 though is it?

I agree the Super Hornet procurement was poorly managed but I don't see a lot of viable options, aside from extending the service life of the F-111's and given US congress will not approve the F-22 for sale to foreign countries.
Australia also has a shedload of bucks tied up in development of the F-35, it would be foolish to not actually order any.

Thankfully relations with our neighbours are pretty good atm. But there is no point owning a slow racehorse. If you're going to buy the beast and feed it it better be capable of winning.

And there is absolutely no point coming second in a war. Which is why this purchase is incredibly stupid. There are so many better things we could do with the $ than buy yesterday's fighters. Ok the Hornets may still prevail over some of our rivals if they stuff up and go to sleep in the cockpit or something but it's hardly a strategy you want your nation's sovereignty depending on.

Surely the Eurofighter was a better option. It's available and it rocks. And if Congress was asked to sell us the Raptor they might agree. It's worth asking.

Firelight thanks for the article .

[seahawk]

Does EF rock ?

EF has problems with the landing gear, the fuel system and the brake chute. It has no AESA radar, it can only use missiles of equal capability to F-18 E/F for a few years and even then you could integrate Meteor on the Hornet as well.

Furthermore the choice of AG weapons on EF is very small compared to Super Bug. And finally you could get some of the Hornets as Growlers giving Australia an unparalled capability in the whole region.