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JSF shows its style
By Barry Rollings

Volume 49, No. 03, March 08, 2007
 
STATING THE FACTS: The Program Manager New Air Combat Capability, AVM John Harvey, addresses the media briefing at Russell Offices against a backdrop of the new Joint Strike Fighter in flight.
Photo by Kevin Piggott
 
'Tests making good progress'

THE Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) offers the Air Force a more versatile range of capabilities than the F-22, says the Program Manager New Air Combat Capability, AVM John Harvey.

The two fifth-generation aircraft are both highly capable, but the F-22 was specialised more in the air-to-air role and could not conduct the full range of air-to-air and air-to-ground tasks that Australia needs, AVM Harvey told a briefing at Russell Offices on February 21.

“While we tend to focus to a certain extent on the platform itself, the total air combat capability is more than just a platform,” AVM Harvey said.

“It’s a total system that the JSF will be integrated into. For Australia, integrating with the AEW&C aircraft, the new tanker aircraft, the ground support systems and the totally networked ADF will be what provides us with a capability edge well into the future.”

“The JSF has a wider range of sensors, can carry larger weapons, and a wider range of weapons compared with the F-22.”

Addressing media speculation about why Australia should not opt for an all-F-22 fleet, AVM Harvey said it was clear that if the F-22 could do everything, the USAF wouldn’t need the JSF as well.

“So they recognise the F-22 can’t do everything,” he said.

“For those who argue that the F-22 would be a cheaper solution, why then does the USAF plan to buy 10 times as many JSFs as F-22s.

“Clearly, the F-22 is not cheaper. Our assessment is the F-22 costs around twice as much as the JSF and that was supported by a recent Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) report.

“In the context of the recent US President’s Defense Budget that went to Congress, it’s true there was a proposed reduction in the ramp-up rate for the acquisition of JSF in the early years of the program, but there is no plan for the US Services to reduce the total number of aircraft they will acquire.”

“There will be some cost implications associated with the reduced ramp-up rate, but these were taken into account in our submission to Government at First Pass last year.”

The JSF Project continues to make good progress with the first test aircraft recently completing its seventh test flight. It is now undergoing a scheduled hardware and software upgrade and will fly again in early March.

“In parallel with the first JSF aircraft flight testing, the 737-based Cooperative Avionics Test Bed (CATB) is conducting flight tests. The CATB will incorporate the full JSF avionics suite and to date has conducted 14 test flights for 42 hours of flight.

“There has also been a fair amount of press discussion recently about the consideration of the potential acquisition of a squadron of Super Hornet aircraft. Defence has always made the point – and it is still consistent with our long-term aim – that an all-JSF fleet will be the core of our air combat capability. But we’ve also acknowledged that the transition to that is quite a complex task with a lot of moving pieces involved.

“There’s the ongoing sustainment of the F-111, working out when they should retire; a number of upgrade projects to the F/A-18, plus the AEW&C and the Vigilair programs. There are quite a few items there and we’ve maintained options in the background all along in case we needed to do something if it looked like there would be too much risk of a gap in capability during transition.

“When the JSF was considered in the context of First Pass [approval], Government looked at the options and they asked us to flesh out one of those a bit more – which was the Super Hornet option. We are providing more detail on that and Government will decide whether or not they think that’s required in the near future.”

To critics of the F/A-18 Super Hornet as a future aircraft, AVM Harvey made the point that the Super Hornet was a highly-advanced fourth-generation aircraft, which would be in service with the US Navy until around 2030; gradually being replaced by the JSF, starting in about 2015.

“So, the Super Hornet is really the US Navy’s frontline aircraft and will be for quite some time yet. It’s a highly capable aircraft and certainly capable of dealing with the likely threats that we see out there in the medium term.”