Australia to purchase long range stealth missiles

www.abc.net.au...


First to the major military purchase announced today by Defence Minster Robert Hill that will make Australia the only nation in the region to be armed with long range stealth missiles.

The Defence Minister says the missiles will be able to destroy targets on land and sea and will be in action possibly within three years.

Intersting that the article talked about a phase out of the F-111 fleet by 2010. I was under the impression that they Aussies were going to keep the planes flying alot longer than that given the potentialy stretched out JSF development. I wonder if say new engines and avionics could remake the F-111 into a more potent force for AUS?

Originally posted by FredT
Intersting that the article talked about a phase out of the F-111 fleet by 2010. I was under the impression that they Aussies were going to keep the planes flying alot longer than that given the potentialy stretched out JSF development. I wonder if say new engines and avionics could remake the F-111 into a more potent force for AUS?

- I read they bought FB 111's, calling them F111g's to expand their fleet and reduce the demands on it to extend the overall life of the aussie f111 fleet.

Have a look....

www.f-111.net...

From what I saw of the news footage in Sydney, these missiles were the SLAM-ER, a land attah variant of the Harpoon. The news said these missiles had (up to) a 400km range. As far as I know the SLAM-ER doesn't have this range but I'm speakin off the cuff.

www.boeing.com...

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey
- I read they bought FB 111's, calling them F111g's to expand their fleet and reduce the demands on it to extend the overall life of the aussie f111 fleet.

Thanks for the link. The Aussies do morre with less than just about any airforce. AWST did an article on how they train and its quite impressive.

Originally posted by FredT

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey
- I read they bought FB 111's, calling them F111g's to expand their fleet and reduce the demands on it to extend the overall life of the aussie f111 fleet.

Thanks for the link. The Aussies do morre with less than just about any airforce. AWST did an article on how they train and its quite impressive.

I've heard reports that Australia may become the next Anderson. Apparantly the US is eyeing off the massive expanses of WA and SA to use as a training ground for the air force. The British are alos chimping at the bit.
Australia offers the possiblity of the biggest overland Air Force training ground in the world. There are literally millions of cubic km's of airspace where planes could go supersonic.

with the JSF set to replace the F-111 and F-18 fleet the defence ministry want to purchase these missiles to make the difference in range from the loss of performance from our brilliant F-111s.

The JSF simply can't do what the F-111 does so thats why we need the missiles so we can still try to retain some kind of capability to be able to strike our neighbours to the north.

I would also love to see a huge joint US-AUS-UK airforce exercises happen in the aussie outback. We might as well use the land for something .


thanks,
drfunk

Hi mad scientist

I found this and will look for more.

ALDO BORGU, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: The Northern Territory isn't really the ideal place to undertake large amphibious manoeuvres.

It's no accident that we've been seeing exercises like Tandem Thrust, with the United States, that are undertaken in Shoalwater Bay rather than in the Northern Territory.

CRAIG MCMURTRIE: The Defence Minister says the Americans will spend tens of millions of dollars developing the joint facility, much of that money going toward high-tech battlefield simulations where live action is merged with virtual reality.

www.abc.net.au...

Sanc'.

All we need is another target on Australian Soil !

As if the existing US bases aren't enough.

As for the F111 they are still the finest low level long range bomber in the world and there is nothing on the books anywhere slated to be able to replace them. The so called "Stealth Missiles" that the RAAF are condidering a not that stealthy and fairly mundane compared to some out there. Indonesia is just whipping up a storm over it because they dont like being reminded that the Australian Military has no illusions about just where their threats lie.

absolutely agreed. The missiles they are buying coupled with the JSF I believe will not be able to effectively replace the capabilities of the F-111 and will most likely result in an inferior strike capability in terms of range.

However maintanence of the F-111s is running at around $500 million a year so it's a pretty costly bird to keep in the air.

Maybe the government should buy SU-34s instead of the JSF planes that are suppose to replace the F-111. That would be pretty cool to see an airforce with JSF and SU-34 .



thanks,
drfunk


[edit on 27-8-2004 by drfunk]

Originally posted by drfunk
Maybe the government should buy SU-34s instead of the JSF planes that are suppose to replace the F-111. That would be pretty cool to see an airforce with JSF and SU-34

.

I love the Su-34, but will it have long enough legs for the maritime long range strike / patroll that you would need given the fact that you are an island (albeit a huuuuuuge one )

that is true that the SU-34 is not as long range as the F-111 (4000km compared to 5400km) but you must agree that it would be a better solution than the JSF.

Currently with the F-111 out of production it is the next best thing we could buy. However there would be a big problem with weapons payloads etc because all of our stuff is western design. It would be cool if we could get an SU-34 that can use US missiles

thanks,
drfunk

Originally posted by drfunk
that is true that the SU-34 is not as long range as the F-111 (4000km compared to 5400km) but you must agree that it would be a better solution than the JSF.

It would depend on your anticipated threats. THe JSF would give you a stealthy Strike Fleet that can serve in a variety of rolls. Since AUS has clearly demonstrated the We do more with less concept what about picking up some F-15C's as they are replaced by the Raptor? Or, upgrade the 18's with the new ESRA.


I am a big fan of Sukhoi. Hoever, they have issues that may make them more expensive to run over the long haul. Maybe a slightly bigger flanker with a greater fuel fraction would really kick ass.

in last years Defence magazine they touched on the idea of purchasing some F-15's to replace the F-111's instead of the JSF and I must say it is a good idea but range is a problem as it doesn't compare to the F-111.

You are right with the anticipated threats and JSF would be a great aircraft for many roles but only if it had a larger range that was comparable to the F-111 so we can still project airpower onto our neighbours to the north.

Our defence planning is literally shifting to becoming less independent and more reliant on the US during wartime. Our leaders see that any likely conflict we are in the future will be at the US's side so this is the thinking that is taking place currently in the defence department
thanks,
drfunk



thanks,
drfunk

Ideally we need a long range fighter bomber with some strike capability, the JSF is perfect for the Americans who need one aircraft that can do a majority of roles but supported by specialist aricraft AND sole use operators.

We need an aircraft that can do it all, without the support of dedicated bombers, interceptors and stealth strike capability.

Unfortunatly the only other aircraft that fits the role isnt much younger than the F111 - The Tornado. If Russia had completed work on thier multirole replacement for the su-25 or the US Marines hadn't been bullied into the jumping on the JAF bandwagon we might have seen a real competitor appearing.

Perhaps the IAF will suprise us with something new from thier development programs ?

Sadly i think we are stuck with the JSF, we just have to hope that they develop a long range strike varient similar to the F15E.

i wouldnt want australia buying planes from Israel due to political and geographical reasons but they sure do have some nice aircraft

You're right we do ideally need a long range fighter bomber and that's why i recommended the su-34 but there is many many problems with doing so. Tornado would be an okay solution but as you said it is an aging aircraft.

Does anyone know the range of the Tomahawk cruise missile? I was thinking about it a few hours ago if and if it could do the job that we need.

thanks,
drfunk

Originally posted by drfunk


Does anyone know the range of the Tomahawk cruise missile? I was thinking about it a few hours ago if and if it could do the job that we need.

1600 km, the latest Block IV (conventional warhead).

How did this go from stealth missile to F111???

Anyhoo....a stealth missile is like putting a radio on a toaster...sure it's neat, but it doesn't make better toast.

Missiles don't need to be stealthy, as it's EXTREMELY difficult to counter them as it is... It'd be a waste of dough to make them so...

Why are these missiles classed as stealthy, there just SLAM-ER's ?

That would be the Indonesian propaganda machine meeting the Stupidity of the Australian News Media head on.

Indonesia make a big noise, the media like the good little parrots they are spout it out to the general public as though it was holy text, not bothering to check what is fact and what is sensationalism first