The Department od Defence's response to the TV program mentioned in the last post has been countered by expert Dr Carlo Kopp who brings up the following, yet extremely worrying information which reveals the impotent direction of our Military.
"The Boeing St Louis plan to sell Super Hornets to Australia (Project ARCHANGEL) has been in play since 1998. In 2003, Defence was directed by the then Minister for Defence, the Hon Senator Robert Hill, to effectively ‘cease and desist’ from considering an interim fighter solution.
In 2004, the Chief of the Air Force (CAF) stated that the F-111 would not be retired until all major capability projects supporting the RAAF Air Combat Capability were completed and in service. These projects included the AEW&C aircraft, the New Air Refuel Tankers, the Hornet Upgrade (HUG) Program, and the Weapons Improvement Programs.
On page 147 of the Defence Annual Report (DAR) published at the end of calendar year 2004, the following statement may be found:
“The decision to retire the F111 aircraft around 2010 was announced during the year. To ensure the maintenance of strike capability, the Government announced that retirement of the F111 was dependent on the successful introduction into service of airborne early warning and control and A330 tanker aircraft, completion of the F/A18 upgrade, and the introduction of improved weapons and long-range stand-off weapons for P3 Orion and F/A18 Hornet aircraft.”
In 2005 and 2006, the Chief of Defence Force (CDF), the new CAF, the Deputy Chief of the Air Force (DCAF), the NACC Program Office and the Office of the Minister for Defence repeated this statement though without any reference to arming the P-3 Orion with long range stand-off weapons notable by its absence."
If we are going to use the PC-3 Orions to carry stand-off weapons, then why are we getting the F111s retired for? Maybe we should just get some 737s and arm them with cruise missiles. At least the need for stealth is not there since Defence want to arm the PC-3s, which don't have the ground radar which enables low flying missions which the F111 performs. Aren't the PC-3s 'sub-hunters'? Maybe not, since Defence's needs change daily depending how much money they need for the JSF. Since the US has cut its JSF order in half, we might need to retire the F-18s since its costing too much to replace their centre barrels. (The F111s have superior airframes compared to the dud Hornets!) Ahhhhhhhhh, at least we will have the 24 Super Hornets, and the new KC-30 (Airbus) tankers.
Even Singapore has a bigger Air Force than us!
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