The five pillars

While researching material for a book project recently, this writer was reminded of the original reasons the RAAF thought it could cover the gap between the retirement of the F-111 and the arrival of the F-35 JSF when the F-111 retirement decision was taken back in 2004.

In 2005, then Chief of Air Force AIRMSHL Angus Houston said the F-111’s retirement was contingent on five new force multiplying capabilities entering service, which he dubbed the ‘five pillars of capability’. These five capabilities – the Air 5418 JASSM missile, the Air 5077 Wedgetail AEW&C, the Air 5376 Hornet Upgrade program (HUG), the Air 5402 Airbus KC-30A MRTT, and the Air 5333 Vigilare command and control (C2) system – would add significant capability to the RAAF’s then 20 year old fleet of F/A-18A/B ‘classic’ Hornets, to the extent it was thought these could adequately cover both the strike and the air defence missions for half a decade until the F-35 entered service from 2014.