Plan C

The options that weren’t for the RAAF fighter fleet

It is now history that, as a result of delays to the RAAF’s AIR 6000 New Air Combat Capability (NACC) project brought on by development issues with the Joint Strike Fighter, Australia was forced to acquire 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets in order to maintain capability and capacity through the period between the retirement of the
F-111C strike aircraft in 2010 and the F-35A’s service entry from 2018.

But the history of the RAAF’s Project AIR 5349 Bridging Air Combat Capability (BACC) makes for interesting reading for those so inclined, and few realise it is a history that could very well have taken a very different course. Indeed, following the government’s announcement it will acquire 12 new-build EA-18G Growlers as part of its public Defence White Paper release on May 3, one feels that much of the Super Hornet’s history in Australia still remains to be written.