Page 4 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 2023

4 EDITORIAL
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
ALL THINGS AIRPOWER
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
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WELCOME to this latest issue of ADM, our traditional airpower-focussed issue that will be distributed at the Australian Inter- national Airshow at Avalon in late Febru- ary/early March.
It’s great to have Avalon back in our cal- endars after a four-year wait due to CO- VID-19 – a delay which sadly also saw the cancellation of many of the celebrations associated with the 100th birthday of the Royal Australian Air Force in March 2021. As I write this in late January however, the event is shaping up to be the biggest and best in the series so far. Highlights this year will include the Republic of Ko- rea Air Force’s aerobatic team the ‘Black Eagles’ – the very first jet aerobatic team
1), and Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks (Land 4057 Phase 1) for the Army; and the announcement that Defence will acquire 24 new Lockheed Martin C- 130J-30 medium airlifters for the RAAF under Air 7404 Phase 1.
Another important event occurring dur- ing the currency of this issue is the 30th birthday of the Australian Defence Maga- zine, which was the brainchild of our Founding Publisher Judy Hinz and her husband Peter Masters.
As Judy notes in her retrospective look at the magazine’s journey on page 6, a lot has happened in the past 30 years. In ADM’s lifetime to date for example, there have been eight Chiefs of the Defence Force and, perhaps more importantly, no fewer than sixteen Ministers for Defence.
Over that time, Australia has been in- volved in military operations in East Timor (Timor Leste) and has fought alongside coalition partners in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and participated in air strikes over Syria.
We have also witnessed the renaissance of the Australian defence industry over that pe- riod. I would argue that few of us would have predicted in 1993 that by 2023 local com- panies would have earned over $3 billion making products for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for example; or de- signed, developed and produced one of the world’s first Uncrewed Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs) in the shape of the Boeing Defence Australia MQ-28A Ghost Bat.
But there’s a lot of work still to do and as ADM looks to the future I hope in coming months and years we are able to report on the continuing growth of our local defence industry, the nurturing of Australian in- novation and – who knows – maybe even an enlightened and transparent approach to defence trade media?
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the numerous airpower stories in this jam- packed issue written by the team here at ADM and if you are visiting Avalon 2023, please drop by our stand and say hello. ■
“IN ADM’S LIFETIME TO DATE FOR EXAMPLE, THERE HAVE BEEN NO FEWER THAN EIGHT CHIEFS OF THE DEFENCE FORCE AND SIXTEEN MINISTERS FOR DEFENCE”
to attend an Avalon show – and you can read more about what is likely to be on dis- play in our preview on page 50 of this issue.
Avalon is more than just flying dis- plays. For industry and media alike, it’s traditionally a time to catch up on emerg- ing technologies and events in the air do-
main and it is also a great opportunity to learn how Defence’s range of air-related programs are progressing.
As usual, there are a number of De- fence projects planned or underway that will ultimately deliver capability in the air domain, but the spectre of the forth- coming Defence Strategic Review (DSR) looms large. It remains to be seen whether companies large and small are given the green light by government and/or Defence bureaucracy to discuss these programs at Avalon 2023.
Let’s hope so, but in the meantime the DSR has been somewhat usurped by several recent announcements, includ- ing the confirmation of Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardians (Land 4503 Phase