Australia to buy 14 Joint Strike Fighters

Last Updated: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:49:00 +1100

The Australian Federal government has given the go ahead to buy the first batch of next generation defence combat aircraft.

The Defence Minister, John Faulkner says 14 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) costing around $AU3 billion will be delivered from 2014.

The Government plans to buy 100 of the aircraft, which would be Australia's biggest defence purchase.

Mr Faulkner says the JSF will make sure Australia maintains its strategic capability.

"This decision was underpinned by an unprecedented level of analysis and evaluation by Australia, the United States and the seven international Joint Strike Fighter partners," he said.

"Australia's air combat capability is of immense importance to our national security."

Costs

But the Australian opposition says it believes the government has underestimated the cost of the JSF program.

The Opposition's Defence Spokesman, David Johnston expects the project costs to be higher.

"I don't think there's any weapons with these aircraft and I think the costs are running away from us a bit," he said.

"What the Minister [for Defence] is saying, doesn't bring us up to speed with the accounting and economic support that is necessary in terms of dollars for this project."

An Australian defence policy expert has also questioned the Federal Government's decision to make an initial purchase of just 14 jets.

Andrew Davies from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says it would make more sense to buy a bigger batch.

"$AU3.2 billion dollars for 14 aircraft works out at about $AU229 million a piece which is a very high amount but that's because we're only buying a small number of aircraft."

"In a way it makes sense to either buy a lot or to buy none," he said.