Page 50 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 2023

50 AIRPOWER AVALON PREVIEW
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
NIGEL PITTAWAY
BIGGER & BETTER – AVALON RETURNS
After a four-year hiatus, the Australian International Airshow returns to Avalon between 28 February and 5 March, with show organisers promising the 2023 event will be ‘bigger and better’ than ever before.
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
SADLY the 2021 event was first postponed then cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, but despite an up- swing in cases both in Australia and around the world, the 2023 event is set to go ahead as planned.
The major theme of the 2021 event was to have been the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Australian Air Force, but now as Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Rob-
ert Chipman explains in his From the Source interview in this issue of ADM, his focus is now firmly on the future. “Those of you who attend the Australian International Air- show in 2023 will hear a lot about how Air Force is ap- proaching our second century,” he says.
AVALON TRADE EVENT
Once again, the first three days of the event will be given
over to the trade show and ADM understands that all exhi- bition space has been sold, promising a vibrant atmosphere for industry attendees.
One fly in the ointment from a defence perspective how- ever is the shadow of the forthcoming Defence Strategic Review, which looms large over the event and will no doubt stifle many conversations around future capability. ADM understands that senior military officers and industry of- ficials alike have been instructed not to publicly discuss capability in specific terms until the release of the DSR – an event unlikely to have occurred before Avalon 2023.
However, recent Defence announcements such as ad- ditional C-130J-30s for the RAAF; acquisition of AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters and UH-60M Black Hawk battlefield mobility helicopters; and M142 High Mobil-