Issue 302: Numbers Game

Super stoush

Short versus long-term risk for the RAAF’s fighter fleet

For a decade it has been the holy grail of Australian airpower planning, that the RAAF would be built around a fleet of 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters as the long-term replacement for its F-111s and classic F/A-18s. Even the acquisition of 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets to replace the F-111s was sold as a short-term bridging capability, with those jets to be replaced in the early-mid 2020s by a last batch of F-35s.

But August’s confirmation that 12 of the RAAF’s F/A-18Fs will be converted to EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft ensures the basic Super Hornet airframe will remain in RAAF service for at least 20 years, and hence, as it has done since the days of the Canberra bomber and Mirage fighter, the RAAF will operate a mixed fast jet fleet of two types.