Australia to Buy 58 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters

Australian government to spend $12 billion on 58 more next-generation F-35s

PHOTO: Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the JSF will provide a "major boost" to the Australian Defence Force. (AAP: Alan Porritt)

MAP: Australia

Australia will buy 58 more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) at a cost of more than $12 billion after the Federal Government gave the go ahead for the purchase yesterday.The extra aircraft will bring Australia's total Joint Strike Fighter force to 72 aircraft, with the first of them to enter service in 2020.

The $12.4 billion price tag makes the Joint Strike Fighters Australia's most expensive Defence asset.The Government says it will also consider the option of buying another squadron of the next-generation fighter jets to eventually replace the RAAF'S F/A-18 Super Hornets.Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who formally announced the purchase today, says the JSF is the most advanced fighter in production anywhere in the world and will make a vital contribution to Australia's national security.

"Together with the Super Hornet and Growler electronic warfare aircraft, the F-35 aircraft will ensure Australia maintains a regional air combat edge," he said before the announcement."The F-35 will provide a major boost to the ADF's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities."The acquisition of F-35 aircraft will bring significant economic benefits to Australia, including regional areas and local defence industry."



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-23/australia-to-buy-58-more-joint-strike-fighters/5405236

Royal Australian Navy’s biggest warship enters Sydney Harbour

THE Royal Australian Navy’s biggest ever warship - 27,000-tonne, 230-metre-long - the Helicopter Landing Dock (amphibious assault ships) known as ‘Nuship Canberra’,  has arrived in Sydney.

The ship, built by Spanish yard Navantia and BAE Systems in Melbourne, and her 360-strong crew will provide the Australian Government with previously unimaginable power projection capability when matched with three new state-of-the-art Air Warfare Destroyers being built in Adelaide.

The amphibious assault ship, and her sister vessel Adelaide, is bigger than the navy’s last aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne and she will carry up to 1600 fully-equipped combat troops (1000 comfortably), 110 trucks and vehicles, and up to a dozen Abrams main battle tanks, as well as 16 helicopters including Chinook heavy lift machines and Tiger attack helicopters and thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid.

Australia’s biggest ever military purchase of stealth fighter jets set to be approved by Government

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THE Australian Government is set to approve the nation’s biggest ever military purchase allowing Defence to order up to 86 American made stealth fighter jets for the Royal Australian Air Force.

The F-35s Joint Strike Fighter will cost about $90 million each when they will be delivered between 2018 and 2020 and the overall project will cost some $14 billion during the 30-year life.The JSF will replace the fleet of ageing F/A-18 Hornet fighter planes and will give the RAAF a major edge over any regional force apart from those allies such as Singapore who will also buy the jet.

The US will purchase 2443 of the fighters including 1763 conventional ‘A’ models for the air force, 360 ‘B’ or vertical landing versions for the US Marine Corps and 360 ‘C’ or carrier models for the US Navy.

Navantia Delivers First Four LCM-1E Landing Crafts to Royal Australian Navy

The contract for the these series of 12 Landing Crafts was signed in September 2011. The landing crafts are destined to operate with the ALHD “Canberra” and ALHD “Adelaide”.

The first four fast landing crafts (LLC) for the Royal Australian Navy departed on 8th. March on board a cargo from Navantia facilities in Puerto Real. It is scheduled that the cargo arrives destination around mid-April.

The rest eight units are being built by Navantia in different steps of construction, and will be delivered in groups of four during the next months.

HMAS Canberra, the Newest Australian Landing Ship Begins Sea Trials

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Canberra-class landing helicopter dock

Nuship Canberra, one of two Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships being built for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), left BAE Systems Williamstown this morning bound for Sydney on the first period of sea trials.

Director of BAE Systems Maritime, Bill Saltzer said sea trials were the final stage of the project for BAE Systems before acceptance by the ADF later this year. He said the journey to Sydney would take approximately 12 days.

“The ship will undergo a series of tests before we hand it over to the ADF which includes both platform tests as well as testing the ship’s combat and communication systems,” he said.