It’s all in the timing

The review currently underway into the RAAF’s air combat capability by new Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon was more or less expected given Labor’s criticisms of the 2002 JSF and 2006 Super Hornet selection processes.

Interestingly, the review’s timing does precede by some six to eight months the release of a new Defence White Paper due by the end of the year. But it should in no way be seen as a suggestion that the selected aircraft themselves are flawed.