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Reported delays to RAAF F-35 deliveries
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In August a report in The Australian newspaper stated that: “The RAAF faces at least a two year delay in acquiring its planned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter force as the Rudd government moves to exert tighter control on the defence budget”, and “will not receive its initial squadron of F-35s until 2017, at the earliest. ” The article also stated that “the RAAF will get two F-35 fighters for test and evaluation purposes in 2014. ” If taken at face value, this is a logical result of the current constrained defence budget which has a requirement to save “$20 billion over the next 10 years. ” But those savings are supposed to be re-invested in capital equipment, including F-35 aircraft, so if the article is correct one could assume that either Defence does not believe the $20 billion in savings will be made, or there are other reasons for delaying the delivery of the JSF.
According to the Pentagon’s Joint Estimate Team (JET) 2008 report, development of the F-35 is running two years behind the published schedule.
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Lockheed Martin has disputed most of the issues raised by JET in 2008, but has conceded that there have been insufficient flight test hours/flights to provide useful statistical data at this stage.
The US’s Government Accounting Office (GAO), as reported by Defence Technology International in June 2009, stated that the F-35 test program “will have to go from the slowest to the fastest in history” to meet the original schedule.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that some delays will be experienced in the delivery schedule for the RAAF.
The F-35 will be a potent capability, and the complexity of designing and building such a capability cannot be underestimated. And while the risks have been well articulated, Lockheed Martin appears to be implementing the program in a professional manner. The number of countries committing to the program attests to confidence in the company’s ability to deliver. That said, it’s inevitable that problems will arise during development and delivery of the JSF system.
Australia seeks to acquire the best multirole fighter capability available, and this will take time and considerable effort on the part of the company and its customers. The F-111 will be retired in 2010 and be replaced by a fleet of F/A-18F Super Hornets to complement the fleet of F/A-18A/B Hornets acquired in the mid-1980s. The ‘classic’ Hornets were planned to be retired as the F-35 entered service, thus any delay in acceptance of the F-35 will require delays in the retirement schedule for the older Hornets.
And while the classic Hornet’s avionics, communications and weapons have been recently upgraded through the Hornet Upgrade Program, any delayed retirement of this fleet would be expected to affect airframe life as opposed to capability.
A short delay in delivery of the F-35 will not be catastrophic – the combined F/A-18 classic and Super Hornet fleet, supported by the KC-30 Multi Role Tanker Transport and Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft, will provide a more potent capability than that provided by the F-111C and F/A-18A/B fleets until the F-35 is operational in 2017/18.
Defence has much to do in preparation for introduction of the F-35, so what is important is to commit to the program and get on with preparing the RAAF to accept the F-35 into service as soon as it is delivered.
These preparations need to be implemented as planned in order to ensure that the F-35 achieves operational status as soon as practical after delivery.
Again, if the postulated delays are realised the acquisition of 24 F/A-18F aircraft as an interim capability was a prescient one. n Australian Aviation is pleased to support the Williams Foundation through providing a forum for articles and columns. Further details on the Williams Foundation can be found at www.williamsfoundation.org.au.
The F-35 test program “will have to go from the slowest to the fastest in history” to meet the original schedule.
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