Australia could buy US fighter jets
Sunday Feb 24 18:37 AEDT
United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates says he will investigate whether Australia will ever be able to buy the Lockheed F-22 Raptor jet fighters.
Currently an Act of US Congress bars any foreign sales of what is believed to be the most advanced combat plane in the world.
Mr Gates said he did not know if the Raptor would require design changes to make it suitable for export.
That would only be an issue for Australia should the current review of future air combat needs concludes the RAAF needs the Raptor to maintain air superiority.
Mr Gates, in Canberra for the annual Australia-US Ministerial (AUSMIN) talks held Saturday, said because of the sale ban, he had never delved into the matter.
"It is an issue, given the importance that our Australian friends attach to it," he told reporters in Canberra.
"It is in an issue that I intend to pursue when I get back, first of all in terms of conversations with our own people in the Department of Defence, and also with the Secretary of State, and see what the prospects are and what would be involved if we decided that we needed to go to the congress and get a change in the law."
The F-22 Raptor is US Air Force's most advanced fighter which is specifically barred from sale to any foreign country under a 1998 amendment to a budget bill moved by Wisconsin Democrat Congressman Dave Obey.
That reflects a view of some US politicians that the US should jealously protect its military advantage by not exporting its best technology, even to trusted allies.
Asked how realistic it was to expect Congress to change the law to permit exports, Mr Gates said he did not know.
"I just need to go back and get myself better educated on this, in concert with the Secretary of State, and decide whether this is a matter that we should pursue with the Congress," he said.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said on Saturday he would write to Congressman Obey to gauge his views on a change in his law.
He said the government had no view on whether Australia should or should not buy this aircraft.
"It simply expresses the Australian government's determination that when we make these very important decisions that every area of capability available is part of that mix," he said.
Under current plans the RAAF's ageing F-111 will retire from 2010, with the new Lockheed F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) entering service about 2015.
To fill any capability gap in the period 2010-15, the former Coalition government opted to buy 24 Boeing Super Hornets as an interim capability.
Mr Gates said he believed JSF would arrive on time.
"Everything that I have been told indicates to me that the Joint Strike Fighter is now pretty much on schedule and is proceeding," he said.
"So I think that the timetable that we have been talking about is one that probably can be met."
Mr Gates said the Australia-US trade agreement, designed to facilitate sales of sensitive US military equipment to Australia, was now in its final stages before approval.
He said the Defence Department had been paring down the list of exclusions and exemptions.
"We now have a list that is essentially the same as exists for the United Kingdom and the Congress has asked that both of these treaties be submitted together," he said.
"It is our hope that it will go to the Congress for ratification perhaps in early March."
