Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
If true thats very interesting, when did that all change?.

I always understood there was an agreement between the UK's GCHQ and the NSA called UKUSA ( the purpose of UKUSA is the full exchange of intelligence), the CIA may still have a separate dept (staff D as it was called)that was created to bypasses the UKUSA, but I doubt the Australia would have anything from Staff D as one of its uses is for spying on UK/Commonwealth countries!! and the FBI were always a law unto themselves but were not so involved in intelligence gathering.

Now this may have all changed in the last couple of years - I could believe that Australia sends more raw signals intelligence into the system, but thats more a function of location than anything else...
I'd be interested in exactly when and if that UK intel exchange shifted significantly.

Cheers
Australia was elevated to similar access levels 2 years ago. Check your PM
 

JWCook

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
Ah Cheers.. I was just wondering ;-) I thought some wool was being pulled over my eyes. ;-)

Cheers
 

Pro'forma

New Member
Mod edit:

Please try and make your posts readable. What you previously wrote and can be seen below in JWcook's next post is little more than gibberish I'm afraid.

AD
 
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JWCook

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
Any schedule to collect Australian Air F/M need for new generation fighter ( F/A22 ) ?

If procurement of next decade has changed as causality
reporting annually; when usaf Planning Department is with new reform
recorder and international F/A22.

FA 22 2.
I think its in English, but i have no idea what it means!!
 

Todjaeger

Potstirrer
Could the F-22 downgraded for export? Also, supercruising Su-30s will make them almost at the level with F-22s!
What does this post have to do with the RAAF? The RAAF is not particularly interested in the F-22, since it is not a real multi-role aircraft and therefore not well suited to meet different Australian needs. Certainly it would be a nice capability to have in the present design format (VLO, supercruise, AESA, etc) but not at the cost of having other capabilities reduced.

This does not even get into the development costs which would have to be picked up by those who ordered a downgraded for export version, likely increasing cost to purchase to similar levels as that of USAF F-22 Raptors. Or that an export version would be lacking some of the the very capabilities which make other countries want to have a capability like that the Raptor offers.

Lastly, what does the Su-34 have to do with the RAAF? At present no country in the region is operating them or have them on order, with Russian expecting to have 24 operational by 2010. Given that ausairpower.net was cited as a source, I would recommend reading through the archives for RAAF related threads. There have been a number of mentions in the past with regards to the accuracy and assumptions made on that website as well as potential conflicts of interest on the part of those providing the "analysis".

-Cheers
 

Tasman

Ship Watcher
Verified Defense Pro
Any schedule to collect Australian Air F/M need for new
generation fighter ( F/A22 ) ?

If procurement of next decade has changed as causality
reporting annually; when usaf Planning Department is with new reform
recorder and international F/A22.

FA 22 2.
I'd try to respond but I have absolutely no idea what you mean! :confused:

Tas
 

Ozzy Blizzard

New Member
Could the F-22 downgraded for export?
Yes! Of cource it could, but the real question is will it? Short answer, not in the next 5 years anyway by which time the current production run will almost certainly be over & theline closed. We may have a hope if they start annother production run down the track and the technology is more mature.


Also, supercruising Su-30s will make them almost at the level with F-22s!
:lol3

Why exactly, bacause they can cover ground almost as quickly when they're clean (remember the F-22A aqtually runs clean in combat config)? Supercruise wont make up for the fact that an F-22A can use its (more advanced) AESA in the BVR regime and the Flanker can not. That fact alone will make it a slaughter, AL-41F or AL-31 whatever, & this doesnt take EW into account. At squadron or even organisational level F-22A means they Flankler user can not effectively use his AEW&C aircraft but the F-22A user can. FYI all of the above stands for the F-35A~C.
 

Firehorse

Banned Member
Mod edit:

Try actually reading this thread before you shoot your mouth off. RAAF has been quoted NUMEROUS times on this board outlining WHY it does not need the F-22.

If you can't be bothered to read for yourself, I can't be bothered allowing you to stir up the same rubbish in this thread.

AD
 
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thorpete1

New Member
Howwil the damn rudd goverment and its spending cuts in the Department of defense affect the F-35 lighting purcahse among other aircraft purchases? Will as beagle has reported, the F-35 oreder be cut to 75 aircraft?

Cheers
 

Tasman

Ship Watcher
Verified Defense Pro
Howwil the damn rudd goverment and its spending cuts in the Department of defense affect the F-35 lighting purcahse among other aircraft purchases? Will as beagle has reported, the F-35 oreder be cut to 75 aircraft?

Cheers
75 was always the projected figure given for Australia's buy in the first phase of the RAAF's JSF purchase. A follow on buy of 25 was foreshadowed as a possibility but other alternatives such as UCAVs were also put forward as possibilities. The purchase of the FA-18F gives breathing space to the RAAF so the first phase doesn't need to be rushed and the final phase could easily be put off for some time, leaving the RAAF with 3 squadrons of F-35s and 1 with the FA-18F (perhaps with some modified for EW) as a medium term force (from about 2017 or 2018 until the SHs are eventually replaced).

BTW, if the final phase doesn't include the F-35 then I think the navy's wish (as mentioned in today's news) for some F-35Bs to be included will be even less likely to happen than if all 100 are acquired (even then it will still be pretty slim IMO).


Tas
 

Pro'forma

New Member
Okay try mid-class american english. AD don't take too personally, just a
kind reply.


The Australian government for its annual reporting did not reach the
agreement, any Air Force/Militarial need for new generation fighter F/A 22
( as we know U.S law mostly prohibiting ).

If procurement of several next decades has changed as reasons of lower
overall costs; then when U.S/usafe is/has plans to the next F/A 22.

A new international F/A 22.
 

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
The Australian government for its annual reporting did not reach the agreement, any Air Force/Militarial need for new generation fighter F/A 22 ( as we know U.S law mostly prohibiting ).

If procurement of several next decades has changed as reasons of lower
overall costs; then when U.S/usafe is/has plans to the next F/A 22.

A new international F/A 22.

what agreement on the F-22??? For goodness sake its not available. Its not the US Govt stopping it - its a congressional amendment and ITARs restrictions. the latter led directly to the former. the former is outside of the purvue of a single govt decision.

there is no international F-22 - it exists in the minds of aviation impotent who live in hope that the prev paragraphs issues will disappear magically into the night.
 

JWCook

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
They spent 1 billion dollars making the JSF tamper proof, whats makes you think they would even offer the F-22 without such a program, this program would

a. add cost to an already expensive program.
b. raise the purchase price of an export variant.
c. take several years to develop.
d. add complexity to maintainance.
e. expose the f-22 to more scrutiny by friends and foes.
f. require an act of congress.
g. damage the JSF program.

Thats the cons - the pros to this would be the allies to the US would feel trusted, so from a US perspective its a bit of a lopsided argument.

Cheers
 

Firehorse

Banned Member
Australia's new fighters 'already obsolete'

Last week the US House of Representatives voted to allow US allies to potentially purchase the F22. The US Senate has not voted on Representative K. Grangers amendment yet but as the Washington Post notes, the Senate has normally been more tolerant of international involvement in US military programs.
As noted in a Parliamentary Research Note on the JSF [pdf] the APH covered the options for Australia should the JSF project prove sub-optimal. The two options offered were the F22 and the F15K variant.
The F22 is very expensive, currently thought to be in the area of 200 million USD each, but Maj. Gen. Richard B.H. Lewis claims the next production run of one hundred F22s will bring the unit cost down to 116 million per aircraft.
That makes it cost competitive with the JSF which is thought to currently cost somewhere between 95 million and 100 million.
..
While the government re-affirmed its support for the JSF project, the interesting political statements came from the other side of parliament. Both Kim Beazley and Robert McClelland made statements saying that Australia should seriously look at purchasing the F22 to plug the projection hole.
For instance McClelland;
... we will closely examine the option of acquiring F-22 Raptors, at least in the initial procurement phase, to ensure Australia does not forfeit regional air superiority between retirement of the F-111s in 2012 and delivery of replacement JSFs in 2015 at the earliest and more likely 2017.
And Beazley a couple of days later;
It's a very serious situation. A big capability gap is building up now - Australia versus the region ... We have always enjoyed technological superiority. We are now about to lose it. ..The procurement of the F22 would send a large message of Australian power, seriousness, deterrence and prestige.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/7/3/104021/5613
Apparently at least some in Australia do want them, and US laws can be changed to suit whoever makes/amends export laws! In my prev. deleted post, I pointed out that
- so it's already multi-role!
 

Grand Danois

Entertainer
Australia's new fighters 'already obsolete'



Apparently at least some in Australia do want them, and US laws can be changed to suit whoever makes/amends export laws! In my prev. deleted post, I pointed out that - so it's already multi-role!
This has been discussed so extensively that I cannot even.... not another repeat.

It's total bull. It's comparing UFC with UPC for starters. No, Aust wont get Raptors at an UFC of 116 mn USD. No, the UFC of the F-35A will be approx 50 mn USD, not 95-100 mn USD. No, Aust wont get a sweet spot at the end of the Raptor production run.

And yes, the F-22A can drop bombs. No, it does not make it multirole. It only gives it a narrow A-G mission, essentially taking over the very specialised mission the F-117 used to do. Nothing more than that.

This is re-circulated APA rubbish.
 

swerve

Super Moderator
...
Apparently at least some in Australia do want them, and US laws can be changed to suit whoever makes/amends export laws! ...
US laws can be changed. The British Parliament can also vote to abolish the monarchy. Doesn't mean it'll happen. To assess the likelihood of a law change you have to look at the political factors, the motives & objectives of the main players, how important an issue is and to who.

I'm no expert on this, but I don't see a big lobby in the USA for F-22 exports. Lockheed Martin is happy not to export it, because it has the F-35. Those Australians & Japanese who want their countries to get F-22 have no clout in the US congress, & in some cases, one might even say have negative clout: the more they ask for it, the more determined their opponents become. On the other side, there's a large and powerful lobby against allowing F-22 exports. The USAF wants to keep its silver bullet to itself, & there's a very powerful group within the congress that is even more strongly in favour of keeping the F-22 US-only. Those congressmen who aren't in that group aren't particularly bothered, & aren't going to push hard for a law change. Nobody in the USA is leaning on them to do it.
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
The British Parliament can also vote to abolish the monarchy.
Offtopic: Rather debatable. Monarchists often cite the 1848 Treason Felony Act in that regard, which treats the intent to remove the Queen from power as treason against the United Kingdom.

If Austria Selected Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon, Australia can surely afford them, which is more than twice as big!
Back ontopic: Umm.
You do know that Austria can only afford to operate a single squadron of Eurofighters? 18 aircraft, and even those only with shaky funding.
Twice that number - with your calculation - would mean cutting the RAAF down to one third of its current and planned future fighter aircraft numbers.
 
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