No mention of the third Tranche of F-35s. This review is out to 2033 so maybe that means we might be looking at concentrating of Gen 6. The MQ-28A seems to be a big part of those plans going forward. Could be worth looking at the US plans for the MQ-28 as part of their Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program for an idea of where Australia might be going with this aircraft.
Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates
am I reading too much into this?
8.80 off the shelf options for medium long range SAMs....
The mission of the CCAs in order of priority are shooters, electronic warfare platforms, and sensor-carrying aircraft. They can operate accompanied or unaccompanied. They can also be produced locally giving us sovereign control. It all sounds good but you had better hope the the concept works.
Collaborative Combat Aircraft Will Join the Air Force Before NGAD | The Runway
Collaborative Combat Aircraft Will Join the Air Force Before NGAD (airandspaceforces.com)
Lolcake
Active Member
Boeing in discussions for F/A-18F Block III upgrade in Australia
Boeing is in discussions with Australia about upgrading Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornets to the latest Block III standard.
www.flightglobal.com
No final tranch announcement for the F-35 however this article popped up a month ago. B3 seems to be the stop gap till 6th gen is available.
No comment one way or the other but readers might be interested in this article Quoting NG.
www.airandspaceforces.com
Northrop Says It’s ‘Premature’ For Australia to Buy the B-21—But Maybe Later
Australia has ruled out buying the B-21 for now, but Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said it could happen later, when the bomber is more mature.
www.airandspaceforces.com
Why are you going down this track when the DSR clearly states that the B-21 is not an option.No comment one way or the other but readers might be interested in this article Quoting NG.
Northrop Says It’s ‘Premature’ For Australia to Buy the B-21—But Maybe Later
Australia has ruled out buying the B-21 for now, but Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said it could happen later, when the bomber is more mature.
Approved Yes. Contracted, no…
it seems the ALP are already starting acrobatic backflips on their own entering the ‘missile age’ “plan”.
Out of all the strike missile announcements made by the current Government the only ones that have signed production contracts are:
NSM.
Spike LR2.
Javelin.
Hellfire.
AGM-88E2.
All of:
JASSM-ER
AARGM-ER.
LRASM
JSM
Tactical Tomahawk.
SM-2 Block IIIC
SM-6.
Have not had a single contract signed to commence production, and they are not going to any time in the “immediate” future either, just as the Defence Minister said today, when he was pinned down on the topic. So the DSR “plan” is about buying long range strike capabilities, but we are actually NOT going to buy long range strike capabilities any time soon.
Clear as mud?
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LRASM:
Not sure what is meant by "integrate LRASM Lots 4 and 5 aboard Australia's Super Hornets? I thought RAAF SH were almost identical to USN SH; thus once a missile had been integrated into the USN SH it would also basically be integrated into RAAF SH? Or am I wrong and there are differences between RAAF SH and USN SH? Or do they mean something else by "integration"?
JSM:
There could perhaps be many reasons for delaying an order of JSM to RAAF, however one potential explanation (which has been mentioned before) is the JSM requires Block 4 of the F-35, and as most of the esteemed readers of this forum knows already, block 4 has seen further delays, and it will take some time before the F-35 will be able to deploy the JSM. So if money is tight (and I guess it always is), it might make some sense to delay JSM orders, since it currently cannot be used, and who knows, perhaps block 4 is delayed even further... anyway, the expectation in Norway is that Australia will order JSM, it's just a question of timing. So far only 3 nations have ordered the JSM (Japan, Norway, the US) in spite of JSM being (so far) the only anti-ship missile (with land targeting capabilities) that can fit into the F-35 weapons bay. Looking at how successful the sister missile the NSM has been (selected by 11 countries already: KONGSBERG has signed a Naval Strike Missile contract with Australia - Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace), it seems surprising that not more countries have ordered the JSM -- that is, until we consider that the JSM cannot be used until block 4 of the F-35 becomes available.
Up to 200 LRASM for RAAF with potentially more for RAN - Naval News
Not sure what is meant by "integrate LRASM Lots 4 and 5 aboard Australia's Super Hornets? I thought RAAF SH were almost identical to USN SH; thus once a missile had been integrated into the USN SH it would also basically be integrated into RAAF SH? Or am I wrong and there are differences between RAAF SH and USN SH? Or do they mean something else by "integration"?
JSM:
There could perhaps be many reasons for delaying an order of JSM to RAAF, however one potential explanation (which has been mentioned before) is the JSM requires Block 4 of the F-35, and as most of the esteemed readers of this forum knows already, block 4 has seen further delays, and it will take some time before the F-35 will be able to deploy the JSM. So if money is tight (and I guess it always is), it might make some sense to delay JSM orders, since it currently cannot be used, and who knows, perhaps block 4 is delayed even further... anyway, the expectation in Norway is that Australia will order JSM, it's just a question of timing. So far only 3 nations have ordered the JSM (Japan, Norway, the US) in spite of JSM being (so far) the only anti-ship missile (with land targeting capabilities) that can fit into the F-35 weapons bay. Looking at how successful the sister missile the NSM has been (selected by 11 countries already: KONGSBERG has signed a Naval Strike Missile contract with Australia - Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace), it seems surprising that not more countries have ordered the JSM -- that is, until we consider that the JSM cannot be used until block 4 of the F-35 becomes available.
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RAAF’s intention with Super Hornet is to remain ‘in lockstep’ with the US Navy with respect to SH capabilities, however that doesn’t mean that we operate precisely the same aircraft in precisely the same configuration. There are a range of modifications and upgrades to the base platform that are underway, as well as more routine ”System Configuration Set” updates to software, etc.
Accordingly while RAAF aircraft are being upgraded and kept broadly comparable, there are likely significant differences dependant on schedules for rolling out additional upgrades, capabilities, etc.
Add to which proposed Super Hornet Block III capabilities, some of which we have selected and some of which we have yet to, though Boeing is reportedly in discussions with RAAF to complete a fleet wide Block III upgrade, time of course will tell if we (and even the USN) opt for an entire fleet upgrade to that standard.
I’m not. Just sharing the article with Northrops response following the DSR. call it a public service. I am not and never have advocated one way or the other for B-21.
There will be a review every couple of years but there are indications that Australia is holding out for the NGAD program and frankly I am good with that. Boeing, and by extension Australia, is pushing for the MQ-28 to be part of that program. It even got a mention in the DSR.Boeing in discussions for F/A-18F Block III upgrade in Australia
Boeing is in discussions with Australia about upgrading Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornets to the latest Block III standard.
No final tranch announcement for the F-35 however this article popped up a month ago. B3 seems to be the stop gap till 6th gen is available.
USAF Eyeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat For Next Gen Air Dominance Program
The U.S. Air Force secretary has confirmed that the service could buy the Australian drone as part of the NGAD tactical air combat program.
www.thedrive.com
Lolcake
Active Member
Contract annoucement for JASSM. These will be the B2 variant or what was previously known as the XR variant. USD 750m.
Not unexpected and inline with the DSR annoucement.
Not unexpected and inline with the DSR annoucement.
Contracts for May 18, 2023
Today's Defense Department contracts valued at $7.5 million or more are now live on Defense.gov.
www.defense.gov
That looks like an awful lot of very capable missiles. A couple of hundred?Contract annoucement for JASSM. These will be the B2 variant or what was previously known as the XR variant. USD 750m.
Not unexpected and inline with the DSR annoucement.
Contracts for May 18, 2023
Today's Defense Department contracts valued at $7.5 million or more are now live on Defense.gov.www.defense.gov
I know it’s not this simple but you could delete a bunch of artificial islands in the SCS - or give Hainan a serious dustup - from Butterworth with that lot….
AndyinOz
Member
Part of the $750M USD contract I would assume since mention was made of an FMS to Australia would be fulfilling the request made in July 2022 for 80 JASSM-ER as per this notification by the DSCA Australia – Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles - Extended Range (JASSM ER) | Defense Security Cooperation Agency it would appear possibly that the cost of that part of the Lot 21 procurement is $235M USD.
In 2014 the JASSM unit cost was US$1.359 million so allowing for inflation and what not the current unit cost could be, at a guess, US$5 million. If we work on that figure then it's a lot of missiles. There are other costs that have to be added because with FMS the USAF will have a large fee for its involvement in the acquisition.
Lolcake
Active Member
Afternoon gents,
Article from the Australian yesterday regarding the upgrade of the Shornets. Pretty much confirms what we already know. Seems the last tranch of F-35 likely wont happen and we will wait for Gen 6 Jets.
“During 2023-2024, F/A-18F aircraft are scheduled to undergo planned capability upgrades as part of the US Navy-managed Spiral Upgrade Program to ensure the platform’s ongoing lethality and survivability in a contested environment, and to maintain configuration alignment with the US Navy,” the budget documents report.
This ties in with the article from April where the Boeing rep said they were in discussions to upgrade to block 3 and block 2 for the Fs and Gs respectively.
Article from the Australian yesterday regarding the upgrade of the Shornets. Pretty much confirms what we already know. Seems the last tranch of F-35 likely wont happen and we will wait for Gen 6 Jets.
“During 2023-2024, F/A-18F aircraft are scheduled to undergo planned capability upgrades as part of the US Navy-managed Spiral Upgrade Program to ensure the platform’s ongoing lethality and survivability in a contested environment, and to maintain configuration alignment with the US Navy,” the budget documents report.
This ties in with the article from April where the Boeing rep said they were in discussions to upgrade to block 3 and block 2 for the Fs and Gs respectively.
Redlands18
Well-Known Member
Not really a major surprise, the ADF probably have much higher priorities then replacing a still very capable aircraft. The Hawk replacement program is due to kick off later this decade. I wouldn't write off a future F-35 buy entirely though, still probably got at least 12-15 years of production yet. In many ways the Growlers are part of a fleet of 36 aircraft, take away the SHornets and they become a more expensive aircraft to operate and you use up their life quicker.
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Which also fits in with the Growler replacement, Don't see us going for the NGAD (F-22 replacement) but the F/A-XX which is meant to replace the Super Hornet and Growler in the 2030's at a time we have indicated we plan to replace our Growlers seems like a no brainer to keep 24 still capable aircraft till then and buy a fleet of 36 aircraft in the 2030's rather then dump them now and only buy 12 of the F/A-XX in future (This all assumes we go the way of the F/A-XX though I don't see anything around in development let alone existing that would be ideal for us)