Queensland Newspapers, THE US Joint Strike Fighter was a “sure bet” that would allow Australian pilots to work seamlessly with our main ally, defence force chief Peter Cosgrove said yesterday.
Defending the decision to buy a plane that will not be available until at least 2012, General Cosgrove said the chance to be a part of a project that would produce “hundreds and hundreds” of planes was too good to refuse.
General Cosgrove also defended the purchase of new army tanks against claims that they cannot be transported by air or fit under many bridges.
Cabinet last month approved a revised 10-year $50billion defence purchasing plan that includes a decision to replace the army's ageing Leopard tanks and reaffirms the Government's intention to purchase the new Joint Strike Fighter.
Giving evidence yesterday to a parliamentary committee, General Cosgrove said critics of the new tanks and the Joint Strike Fighter had not done their homework.
The Australian Government has already committed $US150million ($226.83 million) to the Joint Strike Fighter project and won the right to develop some of the technology.
“We also know that it is a very well resourced project and that the number of like countries which have invested in it is quite high and that it will be produced in hundreds and hundreds,” General Cosgrove said.
“So in terms of the bet we are making, it is a pretty sure bet.”
While the Government has agreed to buy the new tanks, it has yet to decide on a replacement, with options including the US-built Abrams and the German Leopard 2.
“We can't move (the tanks) in our aeroplanes but that's all right,” he said. “We can move them on rail cars. We can move them around the north where they presumably would be based. We can move them on and off our ships.”
General Cosgrove said he was sure the new tanks would fit under some underpasses or bridges in Australia. “But the mind boggles at the thought that they might need to be transported that way.”
The new equipment plan has faced criticism that the phase-out of existing F-111s bombers by 2010 – five years earlier than planned and two years before their replacement comes into service – will leave Australian vulnerable to air attack.
“It's a bit of sloganeering,” General Cosgrove said.
“We won't be retiring them, since we've gone through a number of other steps.”
As revealed in The Weekend Australian two weeks ago, General Cosgrove said the F-111s could carry more bombs but the Australian Defence Force was moving rapidly towards precision weapons such as cruise missiles.
According to an Australian Strategic Policy Institute report yesterday, Australia remains the most capable air and naval power in the region despite a comparatively small military.
