F-35 - Australia bekrefter 100 maskiner

Friday, May 3, 2013

Australia Reaffirms F-35 Commitment, Adds New Growlers

By Woodrow Bellamy III

Australia reaffirmed its commitment to purchase 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, with manufacturer Lockheed Martin setting 2020 as its date for Initial Operational Capability. 

(F-35. Photo, courtesy of Lockheed Martin.)

The first two Australian F-35s, which are in production, will be delivered next year. Stephen Smith, Australian Minister for Defense, said he expects to see no further delays on the Joint Strike Fighter Project. 

"There’s no change to our Joint Strike Fighter timetable as published in last year’s budget, which reflects and replicates the timetable for the United States’ Joint Strike Fighter project. And we expect to see, on the basis of no further delays in that project, the first of our three squadrons arrive in 2020, with two planes being handed over to us for training purposes in the United States in 2014-2015," said Smith.