Agence France-Presse,
Canberra: Australia will push the United States to lift a ban on exporting the F-22 stealth fighter, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said after ministerial talks with his US counterparts here Saturday.
Fitzgibbon said he wanted the F-22 to be part of a review of Australia's air defences he ordered after his centre-left Labor government was elected last November.
“We do want the opportunity to consider the F-22 in the air capability review,” he told reporters.
The minister said Australia wanted to maintain air superiority over its northern neighbours, although he refused to say if the interest in the F-22 was due to a perceived threat from China.
“I don't think it's appropriate for me to talk about a threat but I would make one simple point, there is no question that the key to Australia's defences is maintaining the air superiority we enjoy to our north,” he said.
“On that basis we have to make absolutely sure we make the correct decisions as we plan for both the near and long-term future.”
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Washington was unable to sell F-22s to Australia because exports of the hi-tech aircraft were banned under a bill introduced into the US Congress by Democrat Dave Obey in the 1990s.
“So while we in principle have no objection to it, until the statute is changed we are not able to sell it to any country,” he said.
Fitzgibbon said Gates had told him to lobby not only the US administration but also Congress if Australia wanted access to the F-22, particularly Congressman Obey.
“We agreed that I should write to him,” Fitzgibbon said.
Australia will phase out its elderly F-111 strike bombers in 2010 but it not scheduled to take delivery of a new fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters until 2015.
To plug the gap, Canberra signed a contract last year to buy 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets from the US Navy at a cost of six billion dollars (5.52 billion US).
But Fitzgibbon said this month that he would cancel the order if the air defence review found they were unsuitable for the job, a move he admitted would invoke financial penalties and strain relations with the US.
The review is scheduled for completion by the end of April.
