Good for 40 Years

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has taken delivery of 60 F-35A Lightning II aircraft (of 72 on order), with the final 12 to be handed over by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin is looking ahead to the upcoming publication of Australia’s Defence Strategic Review (DSR), which will decide whether a further 28 aircraft will be ordered under Air 6000 Phase 7, to eventually give the RAAF a total inventory of 100 units.

Speaking at the Avalon International Air show in March, Steve Over, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 programme Business Development Director, told MON the company will see what further orders emerge from the DSR and how that might affect future acquisition planning. “Right now, our focus in Australia is with the RAAF achieving Full Operational Capability (FOC) by the end of this year, by supporting them to pass that critical milestone,” he explained.

At Avalon, Wing Commander Tim Ireland informed MON that the RAAF stood up No. 75 Squadron at RAAF Base Tindall in early 2022, and has now completed transition from flying the F/A-18 Super Hornet to the F-35 over the past year. This means that all four of the RAAF’s F-35 squadrons are now fully stood up, with 75 Squadron joining 3 and 77 Squadrons plus No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit using the F-35A. The latter units fly from RAAF Base Williamtown. Each squadron has about 170 personnel, including 18 pilots and about 150 engine and avionics maintainers, mission support and IT staff.

Although the aircraft are still being delivered, they are being distributed evenly among the four squadrons, each of which can expect to use an average of 15 planes, with the remainder in depot maintenance or completing upgrades and modifications.

Ireland said that inducting the remaining 12 aircraft will be completed by early 2024, subject to commercial pressures on deliveries. He added the aircraft is ahead of where they expected it to be five years ago, in terms of its capabilities and the maturity of the training systems, adding that, as the strategic environment changes, the capabilities of the aircraft are changing with it, putting the F-35 on a good trajectory.

Initial Operating Capability was achieved in December 2020 and, although FOC is expected by the end of the year, Ireland pointed out these targets are historical milestones set over ten years ago. He explained that, although the RAAF is “still striving for an FOC that is based on a mature capability, delivery of a number of jets and systems, that milestone is less relevant as the capability paradigm shifts – we are more in the mindset of a continually evolving capability. FOC is less of a finite milestone than [it would have been] if we were having this conversation 10 years ago”.

The RAAF’s F-35As have operated around the world, completing early integration and testing stages in the US, then assuring interoperability with other RAAF assets, including the E-7A Wedgetail and E/A-18G Growler, as well as US aircraft. Since then, 75 Squadron has deployed further in the Indo-Pacific region, completing a deployment to Malaysia in 2022: there are further deployments to Southeast Asia planned for this year.

Looking ahead, Over suggested that new weapons being integrated onto the F-35 include Northrop Grumman’s AGM-88 Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), “probably the USAF’s highest priority weapon”. He added that the company’s own AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile and the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile are also coming to the F-35, and that these will offer a long-range stand-off capability against surface targets, while other countries are seeking to integrate indigenous weapons such as the UK’s Meteor and Spear Capability 3.

Over said the company is seven years into a 14-year Block 4 or Follow-On Modernisation programme, designed to “enormously enhance” the transformational capabilities of the F-35, ensuring it remains relevant for generations. Considering the F-16, introduced in the 1970s, has been continually developed and is still in service globally, it is likely that the F-35s will also be in service for a considerable period, necessitating constant upgrades. “We have every expectation there will be a Block 5 behind that and Block 6 and so on. The F-35A has a service life in excess of 8,000 hours, so the airframe should be good for in the neighbourhood of 40-plus years,” Over concluded.

Tim Fish at Avalon for MON