Posted on 12/05/2009 2:07:52 AM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Australia has given its final approval for the first group of Joint Strike Fighters, worth $3 billion for 14 aircraft to be delivered in 2014. The Ministry of Defense said the F-35 aircraft will be handed over in the United States, ready to begin initial training and test activities and are to replace Australia's F/A-18F Super Hornets.
Australia's first operational squadron will be based at Royal Australian Air Force Base Williamtown and will be ready for operations in 2018, a government statement said.
The acquisition in 2014 is the first of three purchases for three squadrons totaling 72 planes, all expected to be in service by 2021 as announced in the government's Air Combat Capability Review and 2009 Defense White Paper, a ministry statement said.
The announcement comes after the Labor government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in July that it would buy three F-35 squadrons as part of the country's $3.9 billion annual defense spending.
The single-seat Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning, with production at the firm's Fort Worth, Texas, facility, is a single-engine multi-role fighter in three versions -- conventional take off and landing (CTOL), short take off and vertical-landing, and carrier-based.
Australia's first order of 14 planes is for the CTOL version and includes infrastructure and support required for initial training and testing.
The first test flight of the F-35 was at the end of 2006. The main engine is a Pratt & Whitney F135 with a joint General Electric and Rolls-Royce F136 engine as an alternative.
Armaments include an internally mounted GAU-22/A four-barrel 25mm cannon with 180 rounds, or 200 rounds if fitted externally. It can carry two externally mounted air-to-air missiles or air-to-ground weapons, of between 1,000 and 2,000 pound bombs.
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