The Problem of the Capability Gap

The US Deputy Defence Secretary has written Brendan Nelson to say that the F22 will not be offered as an export to Australia. The F22 is one of two fifth generation platforms, the JSF is the other, and more than a few in politics and policy have argued for the F22 instead of the JSF to be the RAAF's next platform.

Yesterday the ASPI released a policy document authored by Andrew Davies that was titled: The generation gap: Australia and the Super Hornet by Andrew Davies . In it Davies argues that the Super Hornet is a poor option, and the four billion spent on it might be better spent on keeping the F111 in service until the fifth generation fighter becomes available or operational.

Davies also argues that the F22 might become a more cost competitive answer to Australia's projection issues, as we would not be buying an early version, and know the cost overruns - something that remains uncertain with the JSF. However the letter from the US Deputy of Defence puts a kabosh on that. He writes:

We also need to understand that, no matter what we do, we lose significant capability when the F-111 retires. No other aircraft (including the Super Hornet, Raptor and JSF) has its range and load carrying capability. Effectively each F-111 provides better than twice the combat effect of smaller aircraft like the JSF or the Super Hornet. For that reason, it might well be worth looking at how many years extra service we could get from them for part of the four billion dollars that the Super Hornets would cost. That might be a more cost-effective way of avoiding a capability gap.

This is Australia's real problem. For the first time in the RAAF's history a new platform will decrease our capability, not improve it.

Permalink, The Problem of the Capability Gap, Feb 2007, cam

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