Had Pledged To Purchase 100 F-35s
Officials in the
Australian Ministry Of Defence warned parliament earlier this week
the country could be forced to reduce its target order of 100 F-35
joint strike fighters over continuing cost overruns.
According to The Australian newspaper, Deputy Defence Secretary
Shane Carmody told a panel looking into the country's military
relationship with the US stated the cost of the F-35s -- which has
already swelled from $45 million to $60 million Australian -- could
soar even further if recent Congressional cuts in the F-35 program
result in Lockheed Martin curtailing production.
The US may reduce its initial order of 2500 planes by as much as
1/5, according to the newspaper. That means added costs, spread out
over fewer aircraft -- and higher prices.
"A factor in the cost blowout, I think, would be if the US
decided to reduce the number of aircraft it is acquiring," said
Carmody.
Australia had committed to purchasing 100 of the multi-role
fighter aircraft, to replace the country's aging 71 F/A-18 attack
aircraft and 26 F-111 tactical fighter bombers. The first F-35 is
to be delivered to Australia in 2014.
Australia is also sharing part of the $256 billion development
cost with the US and other allied countries, which allowed the
total initial cost of the program to be reduced to $16 billion.
However, with development costs surging, the US is said to be
contemplating scrapping plans to build a CTOL -- or conventional
takeoff-and-landing -- version of the F-35, the variant Australia
wants. That means the Australian air force might have to settle for
the pricier VTOL (vertical takeoff-and-landing) version of the
F-35... and as many as 50 fewer of them.
"We certainly have some concerns if the (joint strike fighter)
gets very expensive," said Carmody, "...and ultimately, sometimes
you have to cut your cloth, but we are a long way short of that at
this point."
Canberra has still "not committed on aircraft type or numbers,"
according to Carmody.
While other defence ministry officials insist plans haven't
changed, there is talk of using additional unmanned aerial vehicles
to offset the lack of fighters to maintain air superiority.
"I can't imagine that in the end we would only buy 50
fighters... but there are other options, including complementing
the fighters with UAVs, which may mean you can have fewer of them,"
said professor Ross Babbage of the Kokoda Foundation, a defense
think tank.
"I don't think anyone has realized yet just how much more
capable the JSF will be than the current generation of fighters,"
Professor Babbage added.