Swing wing

The F-111’s technological leap for the RAAF

Soon after WWII a new ‘Cold War’ descended and Australia’s regional geostrategic environment rapidly deteriorated, especially after 1949 when Mao Zedong’s Chinese Communist Party established its rule over mainland China. The deterioration continued with the Korean War (1950 to 1953), the defeat of the French by the Viet Minh in Indo-China in 1954, and the rise of the communist insurgency in Malaya from 1948. Closer to Australia, the newly independent Indonesia lurched in an increasingly uncertain direction under President Sukarno who had assumed largely autocratic power and whose relationship with the Indonesian Communist Party was causing great concern in Australia.

At a time when Australia’s population was less than 8 million (1949), and just nudging 10 million (1959), it was not surprising Australia sought to augment its combat power with a long-range strike capability, with the English Electric Canberra coming into RAAF service in 1953. It was also not surprising that, for some time, Australia seriously considered acquiring a nuclear strike option.