F-22A Raptor, FB-22, F-22E, F-22N and Variants Index Page [Click for more ...] People's Liberation Army Air Power Index Page  [Click for more ...]
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Last Updated: Sat Jun 7 10:30:54 UTC 2014






Welcome to the

APA Media and News Page









This page was initially introduced for visitors from the mass media, to facilitate quick access to materials of media interest.  Over time it has expanded considerably, reflecting its very high visitation rates.

Unlike many websites which rely on automated news selection, APA policy is that all news links are reviewed by a news editor before posting to ensure relevance and quality.

News link tables from preceding years are archived annually as a resource for researchers.








News Reports [Click here ...]
Archived News Reports 2007 - 2011 [Click here...]
Media Releases / Statements [Click here ...]
Hot Topics [Click here ...]
Essential Reading [Click here ...]
Public Debate and Discussion Pages [Click here ...]
Latest APA Notices and Updates [Click here ...]
APA Contrails [Click here ...]

Leading




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Analytical Perspectives on Contemporary Defence Topics
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Current News Reports




Robert Gottliebsen Business Spectator 03/10/2013 JSF denials are in defence of vested interests
News Report
RIA Novosti
03/10/2013
Russia to See 20-Ton Combat Drone ‘by 2018’ – Industry Source
Burak Bekdil
Hurriyet (Turkey)
02/10/2013
Turkish delight for NATO (CPMIEC HQ-9 sale to Turkey)




September 2013




LtGen Anatoliy Gavrilov (Retd)
National Defence Journal
Sept 2013
ПВО Сирии: спасение или иллюзия? (Syria's IADS: Salvation or Illusion? Note unattributed use of APA source materials)
News Report
Hurriyet (Turkey)
26/09/2013
US-sanctioned Chinese firm wins Turkey missile defense system tender (CPMIEC HQ-9 sale to Turkey)
Robert Gottliebsen Business Spectator 20/09/2013 US 'Deep Throat' destroys a JSF cover-up
Adam Ciralsky
Vanity Fair
16/09/2013
Will It Fly?
Bill Sweetman AW&ST 13/09/2013 Commentary: Do Russian Radar Developments Challenge Stealth?
Robert Gottliebsen
Business Spectator
10/09/2013
Abbott's 12-point plan to transform Australia
Said Aminov
Blog "Vestnika PVO"
10/09/2013
MAKS 2013 Coverage
Samoletchik
Livejournal Blog
09/09/2013
Интересные фото С-300ВМ или Антей-2500 в Венесуэле (Venezuelan SA-23 including 9S32M Grill Screen and new TELAR design)
Bill Sweetman AW&ST 09/09/2013 New Medium SAM Displayed At Moscow Air Show




August 2013




News Report
RIA Novosti
31/08/2013
МиГ-31 прослужат в ВВС России до 2028 года (MiG-31 to Remain in VVS Service unitl 2013)
Viktor Litovkin
Независимая газета
30/08/2013
КАРТ-БЛАНШ. "Томагавки" против "Торов", "Торы" против "Томагавков" (Tomahawk vs Tor-M1 - Syria)
News Report
ITAR-TASS
30/08/2013
Китаю не будут поставлены бортовые электронные технологии вместе с Су-35 (China to be denied access to Su-35S avionics technology)
Anatoliy Karpenko
Voenno-Teknicheskiy Sbornik - Bastion
30/08/2013
ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILE SYSTEM S-350Е «VITYAZ» MAKS 2013 (Highly recommended)
David Axe
War is Boring
30/08/2013
Russia’s Stealth Fighter Could Outfly, Outshoot American Jets; T-50 is fast, long-ranged and has fearsome new weapons
Robert N. Charette
IEEE Spectrum
30/08/2013
The STEM Crisis Is a Myth
Yasir Faheem
Asian Defence News
30/08/2013
China's AESA Radars For J-10B J-16 and J-20 Fighters
Yevgeniy Yerokhin Missiles2Go.ru 30/08/2013 Новая ЗУР РЗВ-МД на МАКС-2013 (New SAM RZD-MD at MAKS-2013)
Boris Lobanov
Voenno Promyshlenniy Kurier / TsNIRTI
28/08/2013
РЭБ: вчера, сегодня, завтра (EW perspective)
Bill Sweetman
AW&ST Ares Blog
27/08/2013
MAKS Notebook (New Radars)
Yevgeniy Yerokhin
Missiles2Go.ru
26/08/2013
24/08/2013
МАКС-2013: нулевой день (24 августа) – фотоотчет
МАКС-2013: нулевой день-2 (Photoessay)
“Алмаз–Антей” представляет новые системы ПВО (New SAMs)
News Report
Pravda TV
20/08/2013
Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA superior to US analogues
Bill Sweetman AW&ST 19/08/2013 Sukhoi T-50 Shows Flight-Control Innovations
News Report
The Hindu
16/08/2013
Putin urges stronger security ties with China
News Report
The Telegraph
14/08/2013
Indian submarine explosion leaves several sailors dead
News Report
Voice of Russia
13/08/2013
Russia, Iran have no accords on Antey-2500 missile systems deliveries - Rosoboronexport
Edward “Eddie” Walsh
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
02/08/2013
Generational Divide Could Endanger Long-Term Australia-U.S. Relations




July 2013




Dr Igor Sutyagin
RUSI RAF Air Power Conference Paper
17/07/2013
Air Defence – the Opposite Side of Air Power (Parts 1-5)
Robert Beckhusen War is Boring
13/07/2013 Mystery Weapon Terrifies America’s Admirals
News Report Defense Update
03/07/2013 Weapons Bay of [Chengdu] J-20 Revealed
Maxim Shepovalenko
Voenno Promyshlenniy Kurier
03/07/2013
Боевые лазеры будущих войн )Military Lasers for Future Conflict)
News Report
Cold War and PVO Museum
01/07/2013
Delivery of First S-200V Vega / SA-5B GAMMON Exhibits




June 2013




SFADT
Senate, Canberra
27/06/2013 Report of the DLA Piper Review and the government's response
JSCFADT, Dennis Jensen, MP
House of Representatives, Canberra 27/06/2013 Supplementary Remarks
JSCFADT
House of Representatives, Canberra
27/06/2013
Review of the Defence Annual Report 2011-2012
Robert Beckhusen
Wired
25/06/2013
Army Dumps All-Seeing Chopper Drone
Bill Sweetman
AW&ST
24/06/2013
Sukhoi Test Pilot Explains ‘Supermaneuverability’ [Video]
News Report RIA Novosti 22/06/2013 Russia Offers Iran [S-300VM as] New Replacement for S-300 – Paper [S-300VM]
Ivan Safronov, Elena Chernenko
Kommersant Daily (B)
22/06/2013
News Report Vesti.ru
20/06/2013
Putin visit to Almaz-Antey plant to inspect 50R6A Vityaz SAM prototype
News Report RIA Novosti 19/06/2013 Концерн ПВО "Алмаз-Антей" впервые показал ЗРК "Витязь" [Concern PVO "Almaz-Antey" first displays 50R6A Vityaz SAM System]
News Report Pravda.ru
19/06/2013 Russia's Su-35S shows art of aerobatics at Le Bourget
Klim Sanatkin
Novosti - Moskva
13/06/2013
В Жуковском успешно завершен первый этап испытаний боевого самолета пятого поколения Т-50 [In Zhukovsky successfully completed the first phase of testing a fifth-generation combat aircraft T-50]
Cheryl K. Chumley
The Washington Times 07/06/2013
New U.S. [GBU-57A/B MOP] bunker bombs take out replica underground nuclear site
Robert Johnson and Michael Kelley
Business Insider Australia International
04/06/2013
America's New 30,000-lb MOP Bomb Is Specifically Geared For Iranian Nuclear Site
Jason Kelly
Navy Live
03/06/2013
Overview of the Air-Sea Battle Concept




May 2013




Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post
28/05/2013
Confidential report lists U.S. weapons system designs compromised by Chinese cyberspies
Ross Babbage
The Diplomat
20/05/2013
Australia Needs Strategic Rethink on Submarines
W.J. Hennigan
Los Angeles Times
15/05/2013
[X-47B] Drone is catapulted off aircraft carrier in milestone flight test
Prof Paul Dibb
The Australian
06/05/2013
Show us the money for Defence spending
Damien McElroy
The Telegraph
03/05/2013
Pentagon redesigns its 'bunker buster' Massive Ordnance Penetrator to combat Iran
Enda Curran
Wall Street Journal
03/05/2013
Australia Signals Military Shift Toward China
George Roberts
ABC News
03/05/2013
Indonesian president vows to outgun Australia
Media Page
Department of Defence, Canberra
03/05/2013
Defence White Paper 2013
Michael Riley & Ben Elgin
Bloomberg.com
03/05/2013
China’s Cyberspies Outwit Model for Bond’s Q [Qinetic]
Adam Entous and Julian Barnes
Wall Street Journal
02/05/2013
Pentagon Bulks Up 'Bunker Buster' Bomb to Combat Iran
News Report ABC News
01/05/2013
Video footage emerges of 747 crash in Afghanistan




April 2013




Michelle Grattan
The Conversation
26/04/2013
Grattan on Friday: A Frugal Defence White Paper Released before Budget
News Report RIA Novosti
24/04/2013
Russia to get new [Morfei] short-range air defense system in 2015
Nikita Sorokin
Voice of Russia
19/04/2013
Rússia poderá armar não apenas a Venezuela
News Report Infodefesa.com 17/04/2013 The Aerospace Defense Command Venezuela begins receiving missile system Buk-2ME [Buk 2ME]
Igor113
Livejournal Blog
16/04/2013
Полет над Музеем авиации в Монино (Photoessay)
News Report Diario de Russia
12/04/2013
Rússia transfere para a Venezuela duas baterias de mísseis antiaéreos S-300VM[ Russia transfer two S-300VM SAM system batteries to Venezuela]
News Report RT.com 11/04/2013 Rusia ha entregado a Venezuela dos grupos de misiles S-300VM [Russia delivers two S-300VM batteries to Venezuela]
Brian Hsu
AIN Online
05/04/2013
China Claims Innovation in J-20 Weapons Bay Design
News Report Infodefesa.com
05/04/2013
The Air Defense Venezuela receives first Russian missile systems S-300VM Antey-2500 [S-300VM]
Interview
Aviaport.ru
10/04/2013
Генконструктор НПО "Сатурн" Юрий Шмотин: "Двигатель второго этапа подарит самолету пятого поколения новую жизнь"
Neil McAllister
The Register
09/04/2013
US Navy blasts drones with ship-mounted LASER CANNON
Rana Mitter
ABC The Drum
08/04/2013
To understand China's foreign policy, look to World War II
News Report
Khartiya 97
03/04/2013
Authorities agreed about the sale of [MZKT] Minsk Wheeled Tractor Plant
Prof Noel Sharkey CNN Labs 03/04/2013
Ban the killer robots before it's too late
Yevgeniy Nikitin
Aviaport.ru
02/04/2013
Страна, создавшая лучшие двигатели, будет иметь лучшие самолеты - генеральный конструктор НПО "Сатурн" Юрий Шмотин
Alexander Polyakov RT.com 01/04/2013
Iraq to resume $4.2bn Russian arms deal




March 2013




John Reed
FP.com
26/03/2013
First pics: China's J-20 stealth fighter armed with a missile
News Report
New York Times
17/03/2013
U.S. adds anti-ballistic missiles along Pacific Coast to deter North Korea
Rajat Pandit
TNN (India)
16/03/2013
IAF kicks off massive combat exercise, activates all airbases
David Hershenhorn and Michael Gordon
New York Times
16/03/2013
U.S. Cancels Part of Missile Defense That Russia Opposed
Michael Winter
USA TODAY 14/03/2013
U.S. fighters warn off Iranian jet chasing spy drone
Theodoric Meyer
Pro Publica Inc.
14/03/2013
The Most Expensive Fighter Jet Ever Built, by the Numbers
Xu Tianran
Global Times
13/03/2013
Chinese missiles steal spotlight after downing Syria army helicopters
News Report
Press Trust of India
13/03/2013
Nirbhay cruise missile test achieves partial success
News Report
Defense News
13/03/2013
Report: Surge in N. Korea Air Force Sorties
Dmitry Litovkin
Rossiyskaya Gazeta 12/03/2013 Moscow regains lost ground with Hanoi
Mark Thompson
Time Inc.
12/03/2013
Not the Navy’s Favorite Artist Rendering
David Wroe
Sydney Morning Herald
12/03/2013
Concerns about Joint Strike Fighter ignored
News Report
TASS/VoR
12/03/2013
India test-fires first indigenous cruise missile
Steven Musil
C/Net
11/03/2013
White House demands China cease alleged hacking activity
Joe Saklatvala
Motherboard
10/03/2013
The F-35 Guide to Avoiding Radars, Accountants, and Reality
News Report
Interfax
09/03/2013
Russian Air Force to receive 5 generation fighter in 2015-2016 - Rogozin
Jonathan Marcus
BBC
06/03/2013
Spent force: Are wars still winnable?
Lan Lan
China Daily
07/03/2013
China well on way to being largest oil importer
Shaun Waterman
The Washington Times
06/03/2013
New Pentagon super fighter will get pilots shot down, warns report
Dr J. Michael Gilmore
Director, Operational Test and Evaluation
[15/02/2013]
F-35A Ready For Training Operational Utility Evaluation (OUE)
David Bird
Wall Street Journal
05/03/2013
U.S. Tops Saudi Arabia as World's Biggest Fuel Producer
Tony Carr
John Q. Public
04/03/2013
Last Wishes of a Dying General
Lee Gaillard
Counterpunch
04/03/2013
When Money is No Object: the Strange Saga of the F-35
Rowan Callick
The Australian
02/03/2013
Arms for Asia: Russia aims to make a killing
Dennis Jensen, MP The Punch 01/03/2013 I’ve seen secret files and this jet will blow up in our faces
Vladimir Karnozov AINOnline 01/03/2013 Russia, India Describe Next-Gen Fighter Plans
Jane Wardell Reuters 01/03/2013 Australian F-35 suppliers fret over potential order cutbacks




February 2013




Christopher Drew
New York Times
27/02/2013
Chief of F-35 Jet Program Rebukes Main Contractors
Jane Wardell
Reuters
27/02/2013
Pentagon F-35 program chief lashes Lockheed, Pratt
Yuri Paniev
Rossiyskaya Gazeta
26/02/2013
Russian arms industry exports record high
John Garnaut
Canberra Times
26/02/2013
Crusading general ducks for cover as fellow bloggers return fire
Steven Cherry
IEEE Spectrum
26/02/2013 Are Boeing's Battery Difficulties Part of a Much Bigger Problem?
David Francis
Fiscal Times
26/02/2013
The Pentagon’s Incredible $1.5 Trillion Mistake
Ekaterina Pokrovskaya and Alexander Bratersky
Moscow Times
25/02/2013
No Breakthrough for Russian Arms Makers in Abu Dhabi
Casey Chan
Gizmodo
24/02/2013
The Trillion Dollar F-35 Is Grounded Yet Again
Ben Sandilands
Crikey.com
23/02/2013
F-35 sends reminder of worse flying flop
Deborah Rice
ABC News 23/02/2013 Pentagon grounds F-35 fighter jet fleet (Peter Goon interviewed)
News Report ABC News 23/02/2013 F-35 Grounded (Peter Goon interviewed 13:25)
Lisa Millar
ABC News
23/02/2013
Pentagon grounds F-35 fighter jet fleet
Amy McCullough
Air Force Magazine / AFA
22/02/2013 Looking Beyond F-35 (Gen Mike Hostage interviewed)
Vladimir Karnozov
AINOnline
22/02/2013
More Sukhoi Fighters for China, Indonesia
News Report Interfax
20/02/2013
China intends to buy Russia's Sukhoi Su-35
Thom Hartmann
Rabble.ca
20/02/2013 U.S. debates F-35 fighter jets: It's time to kill this trillion dollar relic
Kirk Spitzer
Time Magazine
20/02/2013
Chinese View Of Islands Conflict: “Make It Quick”
Dennis Jensen, MP AFR
20/02/2013 Joint Strike Fighter a flying brick (Sub)
Dennis Jensen, MP
The Punch
19/02/2013
Obliterating billions in the afterburners of the JSF
Andrew Fowler and Clay Hichens
Four Corners ABC TV
18/02/2013
Reach for the Sky (Peter Goon interviewed)
Vadim Ponomarev
Rossiyskaya Gazeta
17/02/2013
BRICS: Brothers in arms
David Sanger et al
New York Times
16/02/2013
Chinese Army Unit Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S. (Report)
John Garnaut
Fairfax
16/02/2013
Day will come when we must choose US or China
News Report
The Telegraph
16/02/2013
Russian meteor exploded with force of 30 Hiroshima bombs
Vladimir Karnozov AINOnline 15/02/2013 Indigenous AEW Debuts at Aero India Show
Neelam Matthews
AINOnline 15/02/2013 BrahMos Integration on Su-30MKI Imminent
Robert Gottliebsen
Business Spectator
15/02/2013
Shooting down lies from the sky
LtGen David Deptula
AOL Defense
15/02/2013
Retired Lt. Gen. Deptula: Drones Best Weapons We've Got For Accuracy, Control, Oversight; Critics Don't Get It
Peter Goon and AIRCDRE (Rtd) Edward Bushell
Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Canberra
February 2013
THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
OF THE DEFENCE TRADE CONTROLS ACT 2012 (APA Submission to Inquiry into the Implementation of the Defence Trade Controls Legislation)

Alexander Bratersky Moscow Times 07/02/2013 Rogozin Proposes Defense Partnership With Brazil
Martin Fackler
New York Times
05/02/2013
Japan Says China Aimed Military Radar at Ship
Lyuba Lulko
Pravda.Ru
05/02/2013
Russia to sell its best air defense complexes to Brazil




December 2012 / January 2013




Liu Chang
Xinhua
28/01/2013
Commentary: China's anti-missile test no threat to peace
Y. Mallikarjun and T. S. Subramanian
The Hindu
27/01/2013 India successfully test-fires underwater missile
Mark Thompson
Time Magazine
25/01/2013
The Most Expensive Weapon Ever Built
Vlado Vivoda
The Conversation
25/01/2013
Can shale oil fuel Australia?
Jane Perlez
New York Times
19/01/2013 As Dispute Over Islands Escalates, Japan and China Send Fighter Jets to the Scene
John Xenakis
Breitbart.com
19/01/2013
China's directive to the People's Liberation Army: Get Ready for War
David Talbot
Technology Review
15/01/2013
DARPA Wants to Remake Manufacturing
Dave Majumdar
Flightglobal.com
14/01/2013 Pentagon lowers F-35 performance bar
Video Clip
BAe Systems/Youtube
14/01/2013 Meteor missile firing from Typhoon
Stewart Webb
Defence Report
11/01/2013
Chinese carrier Liaoning is not a threat, says US Navy
News Report Vesti.ru
January 2013
Russian PVO equip with new radar (Gamma S)
News Report UPI.com
07/01/2013
Russia takes delivery of fighters, bombers (Su-35S; Su-34)
Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
05/01/2013 China holds war games in contested Sansha City
Brian Hsu
AINOnline 04/01/2013 China To Acquire Tu-22 Supersonic Bombers?
Larry Abramson
NPR.org
04/01/2013
At $130 Million A Plane, Critics Question The Cost Of The F-35
Editorial
Boston Globe
02/01/2013
Cost overruns on the F-35 jet should prompt reassessment
News Report Interfax-Ukraine
29/12/2013
Russia to enlarge output of Sukhoi Su-34 bombers in 2013
David Olive
The Star
28/12/2012
F-35 — a case study in deficient decision-making: Olive; Canada should never have embraced the hyper-ambitious F-35 project
Andrei Kislyakov
Rossiyskaya Gazeta
18/12/2013
Russia to roll out new hypersonic missiles (S-500 Triumfator M)
Vladimir Karnozov
AINOnline
14/12/2013
Sukhoi Nears Deal with China on Su-35 Fighters
OSD
Office of the Director,
Operational Test & Evaluation
January, 2012
DOT&E FY2012 Annual Report (F-35)





Archived News Reports 2007 - 2012

Archived News Reports 2012 [Click here ...]
Archived News Reports 2011 [Click here ...]
Archived News Reports 2010 [Click here ...]




Hot Topics

Advances in PLA-N Carrier Aviation
Chengdu J-XX [J-20] Stealth Fighter Prototype - A Preliminary Assessment
Assessing the Sukhoi PAK-FA
Surviving the Modern Integrated Air Defence System / Assessing the F-22 Raptor
Assessing Joint Strike Fighter Defence Penetration Capabilities / Stealth Modelling
Russian High Technology Weapons: Transforming the Strategic Balance in Asia
The Global Impact of Anti-Access Weapons
High Technology Air Defense Weapons vs Planned US Force Structure
Why 187 F-22s Are Not Sufficient
The Failed Fighter Recapitalisation Plan
The Proliferation of Counter-Stealth Systems
ADA Defender - Are the F-111s Really Stuffed?



APA Media Releases / Statements


Media Release 05/02/2007
The Gap in Australia's Fighter Capability Will Not Be Solved By Buying Super Hornets
Media Release 08/02/2007 US Air Force Joint Strike Fighter Production Reduced by More Than 50 Percent
Media Release 14/02/2007 Is the Gordon England Letter on F-22 Export to Australia Fair Dinkum?
Media Release 22/02/2007 Australia Must Formally Request an F-22 Export Assessment
Media Release 21/03/2007 Minister for Defence Media Release on the GAO JSF Report
Media Release 03/04/2007 Facts or Fantasies?
Media Release 05/11/2007 Analysing “The ADF Air Combat Capability- On the Record”
Media Release 07/01/2009 The Joint Strike Fighter Cannot  Survive Against New Russian Radars
Media Release 30/01/2009 NCW101: An Introduction to Network Centric Warfare Book Release



Go To Top of Page [Click here ...]

Leading


The centrepiece of the Canberra Defence bureaucracy's arguments against acquisition of the F-22 was a claim that the aircraft is not an effective bomber, despite the F-22 being the planned replacement for the F-117A Nighthawk bomber since 1999, and the primary element of the planned US Global Strike Task Force. The F-22 now carries the GBU-32 JDAM and is being fitted to carry the latest GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (above). Like most other claims made by the Canberra bureaucracy to justify the Joint Strike Fighter, Super Hornet and early F-111 retirement, the claim that the F-22 is not viable as a bomber was and is simply fiction (US Air Force image).



Essential Reading

  1. F-22 Raptor News Archive @ Air-Attack.com
  2. United States Government Accountability Office - March 2007 - GAO-07-360 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER Progress Made and Challenges Remain
  3. United States Government Accountability Office - March 2007 - GAO-07-360 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER - Highlights
  4. Defense Industry Daily - Australian Air Power Controversy: F-35 and Super Hornets Under Fire (continuously updated)
  5. Robert  Kress and Rear Adm. Paul Gillcrist, U.S. Navy (Ret.) -  Flight Journal - Russian fighters for the USAF/USN? The ultimate irony …
  6. Robert  Kress and Rear Adm. Paul Gillcrist, U.S. Navy (Ret.) -  Flight Journal - Battle of the SuperFighters - F-14D Tomcat vs. F/A18 E/F Super Hornet [Editor's Note: The Su-30/35 Flankers are comparable to the F-14D in size, weight and performance, making this a useful comparison for analytical purposes. The Soviets were strongly influenced by the F-14 when they designed the T-10 Flanker.]
  7. William S Cohen - Air Force Magazine - January 2000 - Cohen on Air Power [SecDef public statement describing planning for the replacement of the F-117A with the F-22A]
  8. Dr Rebecca Grant - IRIS Independent Research - The Radar Game: Understanding Stealth and Aircraft Survivability [Highly Recommended - Refer Page 27]
  9. Matthew H. Molloy Lt Col, USAF, SCHOOL OF ADVANCED AIRPOWER STUDIES, U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT FOR SALE: CRAFTING AN F-22 EXPORT POLICY
  10. President Clinton promises F-22 to Israel (2001)
  11. David A Fulghum and Michael J Fabey - Aviation Week & Space Technology - F-22 Road Show (Compendium)
  12. Don Middleton - ADA Defender - Summer 2006/2007 - Are the F-111s Really Stuffed?
  13. ANAO Audit Report No.27 2006–07 Management of Air Combat Fleet In-Service Support
  14. US Air Force White Paper on Long Range Bombers
  15. Dr Rebecca Grant -AIR FORCE ASSOCIATION SPECIAL REPORT - Feb 2007 - RETURN OF THE BOMBER -  THE FUTURE OF LONG-RANGE STRIKE
  16. Monitoring the Procurement of the Joint Strike Fighter (Netherlands Court of Audit)
  17. Lieutenant Colonel Neil James - REFORM OF THE DEFENCE MANAGEMENT PARADIGM: A FRESH VIEW - WORKING PAPER NO. 59, Australian Defence Studies Centre, May 2000.


Go To Top of Page [Click here ...]


Public Debate and Discussion Pages

Ares - A Defense Technology Blog
ELP Defens(c)e Blog
Plane Talking - Crikey Blogs

Leading



The F-111 was Australia's 'equivalent' to the US B-52 bomber, providing heavy punch for a variety of strike roles. Despite the size disparity, the F-111 typically carries around half the 500 lb bomb payload of the B-52H, albeit to a lesser distance. The US Air Force is likely to still be flying 1961 built B-52H aircraft in 2037, but Canberra bureaucrats retired the F-111 in 2010, despite its youth relative to the B-52H. In 2003 the Defence bureaucracy argued that the cost of running the F-111 would blow out in coming years. When this was proven to be wrong the Defence bureaucracy argued it was non-viable due to the absence of networking and modern digital weapons. When this argument was proven wrong by RAAF/Boeing engineers who integrated JDAM and JTIDS networking using an internal shoestring budget, the Defence bureaucracy then argued unknown structural risks, despite the success of the second wing fatigue life extension testing by DSTO, the Cold Proof Load Testing capability in Australia, extensive wing refurbishment, the ongoing "safety by inspection program", the available wing refurbishment capability at Amberley and the very low cost of new build replacement wings as a fallback option. All of these capabilities existed; were assuring the airworthiness of the F-111 fleet; and, came at a tiny fraction of the cost of the six billion dollar Super Hornet gap filler. Not a single argument for F-111 retirement was anything but non-sequitur speculation by the Defence bureaucracy. Australia's F-111 fleet accounted for 40-60% of Australia's punch and its loss produces a self induced but very real capability gap of unprecedented proportions (US DoD image).


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