Posted on 11/08/2010 10:15:34 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
As a mid-sized power, Australia should buy its jet fighters off the shelf.
Not for the first time, the Joint Strike Fighter is making headlines for all of the wrong reasons - cost and schedule overruns and cancelled orders. This is not good news when the aircraft is the planned future of Australia's air combat force.
The Australian government was an enthusiastic backer of this aircraft right from the start.
Advertisement: Story continues below In 2002 it cancelled a study that was looking at a range of fighter and strike aircraft and instead signed up to the JSF program not long after the US selected the winning bidder for the contract.
Back then we were told that the planes would be in service soon after 2010, and would replace both the F-111 and the 1980s-vintage Hornets. As well, it would be significantly less expensive than other aircraft (no modern combat aircraft could ever be described as ''cheap'') - not just to buy, but also to run. It would also provide a quantum leap in capability thanks to its stealth, sensors and weapons.
(Excerpt) Read more at watoday.com.au ...
Buy off the rack, dudes.
They did with the 24 F/A-18Fs they just purchased.
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