A mixed future

“The delivery of Australia’s F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft . . . will ensure the continued potency of Australia’s air combat system in projecting decisive air power in the defence of Australia and its interests.

“The government announced in 2012 its decision to convert 12 of Australia’s 24 Super Hornet aircraft into the E/A-18G Growler electronic warfare variant. Australia’s Growler aircraft will enhance significantly the ADF’s electronic warfare capability, and together with the Joint Strike Fighter and the Super Hornet, will form a formidable air combat force capable of controlling both the air and electronic environments. ” The White Paper goes on to note the challenge of emerging advanced air combat and air defence capabilities within the region as well as the proliferation of modern electronic warfare systems. “To meet this challenge, government remains committed to acquiring the fifth generation F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter,” although only goes so far as to confirm the initial two F-35 platforms the government has already approved.

The leaked draft White Paper came on the heels of Minister for Defence Stephen Smith’s December announcement that government would seek updated price and availability information for a further 24 Super Hornet aircraft through the United States government’s Foreign Military Sales office.

Interestingly, the Super Hornet acquisition is no longer being discussed as the purely “bridging capability” envisioned by former Minister for Defence Brendan Nelson. Rather, as Minister Smith noted in his pre-holiday announcement, the Super Hornet is now an ingrained and essential part of the air combat force structure, and made further so by the decision to convert 12 pre-wired Super Hornets to the EA-18G Growler variant for electronic warfare.

“We are now not just looking at Super Hornets as transition but looking at the longer-term potential of Super Hornets and Growler and Joint Strike Fighters essentially as a mixed fleet . . . we’re now not just looking at transition,” Smith said.

“This is now not just a narrow gap in a transition from classic Hornets to Joint Strike Fighter. It is the longer-term strategic merits of the utility of the Super Hornets together with Growler, in combination with Joint Strike Fighters. ” The RAAF’s ‘single-type future’, the plan to resolve two air combat fleets into one, appears dead.

“Whether it’s 24 Super Hornets, 36 Super Hornets, or 48 Super Hornets, for the foreseeable future that would still give us a substantial edge in our part of the world.

“But we have no reservations about a potential combination of Super Hornets and Joint Strike Fighters… just as currently the combination of classics and Supers gives us that edge. ” In the context of a draft White Paper that focuses heavily on reducing expenditure across portfolios as well as heavy cuts to Defence since 2009, the announcements sound like the government is preparing for a cheaper, lower risk, more immediate air combat capability option.

It has also been suggested that the costs of maintaining a multi-type fleet may not be as excessive as first thought. Although the actual figures are classified, RAAF sources have indicated that sustainment costs for a fleet of 100 JSFs would be of roughly the same order as that of the current mix of 71 classic Hornets and 24 Super Hornets, with a comparable total rate of effort (ROE).

These sustainment costs would then increase by around 10 per cent for a mixed fleet of 24 Super Hornets and three squadrons of Joint Strike Fighters (72 aircraft), again with comparable ROE. But these figures are based on the existing priority to rationalise the air combat force into a single, F-35 fleet.

The inclusion of the Growler in the force structure entrenches multiple fleets, and the delays to the Australian acquisition of the F-35 have the effect of creating a capability gap to be filled by further Super Hornets.

And so the likely future for the RAAF’s prized air combat capability is a mixed-type fleet of 48 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, 36 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and 12 EA-18G Growlers.

The Super Hornet acquisition is no longer being discussed as the purely bridging capability. . .