SUPER Hornet aircraft are likely to serve the RAAF for decades, rather than providing an interim capability, a leading defence analyst says.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) budget program
director Mark Thomson says the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets will provide the RAAF
with combat capability from the retirement of the F-111 until the arrival of
the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
On Friday, Defence Minister Stephen Smith said 12 of the 24
Super Hornets would be equipped as Growlers, giving the RAAF a very advanced
electronic warfare capability of a kind the US
Dr Thomson says on top of the $1.5 billion price tag, the
RAAF will face ongoing and substantial ownership costs.
"More importantly, by taking the Growler option the
government has dispensed with the fiction that the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets are
only an interim fix pending the arrival of the F-35," he said in ASPI's
The Strategist blog.
Dr Thomson says, assuming the JSF purchase goes ahead, the
RAAF will be operating two fleets of combat aircraft for the next couple of
decades, having to spend twice as much on the fixed cost of fleet operations.
He says the RAAF must be worried, as long-term plans to buy
up to 100 JSF aircraft must be in jeopardy.
"The most optimistic outcome is that long-term
additional cost of operating two fleets will be funded by purchasing fewer F-35
aircraft," he said.
"Say goodbye to 100 aircraft."
More worrying still is the prospect someone will crunch the
numbers and come up with the obvious alternative - cancel JSF entirely and use
the substantial savings for an all-Super Hornet fleet, he said.
"Sure, the F/A-18E/F does not have the technical
performance (promised) by the F-35, but it's good enough for the US Navy to be
taking new deliveries at the moment," he said.
"Moreover, a larger fleet of slightly less capable
aircraft would be better to have in many circumstances."
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