Pigs can’t fly

But at the same time, no other aircraft in RAAF service in the postwar era has been as fondly loved, by its crews, by its maintainers, by aviation enthusiasts and by the broader public alike.

And for good reason. At its peak, and at its best, the F-111 was a phenomenal weapon system.

It had speed, it had range, it could carry an enormous payload, it had accurate weapons delivery with its Pave Tack pod and laser guided bombs, and with the AGM-142 missile it had enormous stand-off reach.

Indeed as Mark Lax’s excellent newly released book on the history of the F-111 in Australian service, From Controversy to Cutting Edge, the F-111 was a weapons platform with strategic reach, which had major ramifications for Australia’s strategic policies, both in defence and foreign affairs. This was an aircraft that could strike deep into south east Asia, an offensive weapon that gave Australia an unrivalled deterrence effect.

That strategic reach meant big changes in Australia’s strategic thinking – and big changes in how Australia’s near neighbours saw Australia’s military capabilities.

But time waits for no military capability. In the mid-late 1990s the F-111 was probably at the peaks of its powers, and indeed at the time it was thought the jet, bolstered by the acquisition of surplus USAF F-111Gs, would remain in service through to 2020, which would have been a remarkable 47 year career.

But after the peak follows the inevitable decline. If the 2002 decision for Australia to acquire the Joint Strike Fighter to replace both set in the train the process to retire the F-111 in 2010, the writing was really on the wall with the subsequent decision to turn off the F-111’s block upgrade program (BUP), which was aimed at incrementally enhancing the F-111’s capabilities and ensuring its tactical relevance in a modern air combat environment.

Stopping the BUP – which for example would have added the capability to carry J series weapons such as the JDAM GPS guided bomb and the awesome AGM-158 JASSM standoff missile, and a definitive electronic warfare suite – was the first real sign that Australia would no longer be investing the in the F-111’s future relevance.

Certainly the F-111 did remain relevant to the end in many scenarios, but up against advanced fighters with modern look-down shoot-down radars and long range air-to-air missiles the Pig was vulnerable without escorting Hornets.

(And that limited the F-111’s much vaunted range to that of the Hornet, unless air-toair refuelling was available).

By comparison, the F-111’s ‘interim’ replacement, most certainly is relevant in the modern warfare environment. The Super Hornet doesn’t have the unrefuelled range of the F-111, nor its speed. But comparing the F-111 and F/A-18F shows how today air warfare is not just about the platform, but it is about the sensors and wider networked system of systems in which the aircraft operates.

With tanker support (the delivery of Australia’s first Airbus KC-30 tanker was imminent at press time) and its AGM-154 JSOW standoff glidebombs, the F/A-18F (or Rhino to its crews) can give Australia similar strategic reach to the F-111.

But the transition to the Rhino without question dramatically broadens and deepens Australia’s airpower capabilities.

It does (plus with JASSM toting classic Hornets) pick up the F-111’s long range strike mission, but being a multirole fighter, it is equally as adept in the air-to-air arena (something which the F-111 – unless running an intercept against an unarmed maritime patrol or transport aircraft – most clearly was not). And the capabilities of its APG-79 AESA radar have been described as nothing short of “awesome”, and its Link 16 datalink gives it the ability to share the AESA’s take with other Super Hornets, or classic Hornets, or the Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft, or the Vigilare command and control system.

If the F-111 marked the era of strategic depth, the Super Hornet marks the era of networked airpower flexibility and adaptability.

Still, it is remarkable to think that the F-111 is now just a museum piece. Bye Pig, you’re already missed.