F111 versus Royal Australian Navy?
If the long range strike capability of the F111 is irrelevant because of the perceived change in the strategic threat ie: terrorism; why does the Navy/Howard Government have Anti-Air Warfare Frigates on the shopping list? Surely the talk of ex USN Aegis class warships the classic Admiral's Barge syndrome!
If we need sophisticated Aegis warships to fight off hoardes of enemy aircraft , then a long range counter-air/maritime strike platform coupled with the new tankers neccessary too. ie: F111.
There must still be some crippling inter-service politics at play. Or will Aegis provide a capability and political tie up with the Bush Administration's ballistic misslile defence?
F111 Replacement?
Agree with swingwing. We will be short changed. And Strike Eagles we can't afford. How many would the Yanks make available for lease when their own resources stretched anyway? They have the same life of type/JSF introduction problems with their fighters as we do ours.
The F111 can not be replaced with one platform so a combination would be neccessary.
1.New Fighter bombers and tankers. Government is committed to this.
2. P3s with a land attack missile capability. Thought this would be glowingly obvious in the war on terror. This aircraft, from forward bases such as Xmas Island, has a range that stretches to all possible regional terrorist threats. The capability has been used in Kosovo, Afganistan and Iraq. Not glamorous but a dgree of effectiveness commensurate with the financial investment in the capability.
3 Long range capability of delivering special forces for recon/targeting and other stuff they seem to do so well.
4 A politically limited land attack capability for the Navy subs/frigates ie: not cruise missiles.
The above four should cover the loss of capability F111/tankers provided in the long term.
In the short term the government will probably opt for the cheaper loss of capability.
The RAAF should lobby while the iron is hot. For the first time since the 60s and the Indon threat, the taxpaying hoardes will justify the expenditure on long rang weapons due the insecurity of terrorism.
Keeping the above in the context of the best way to kill a muslim terrorist is with another muslim. Diplomacy, arm twisting, intelligence etc.