Page 107 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec-Jan 2023

DECEMBER 2022-JANUARY 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
FUTURE ACQUISITIONS 107
AIR PROGRAMS
Further adding to Army’s angst was the announcement in November that the government is seeking to acquire 24 new Lockheed Martin C-130J-30s, to replace and expand the RAAF’s medium airlift fleet.
While the final numbers won’t be determined until after the DSR is released, the fact that the announcement was made four months prior is doubtless an indication of the government’s priorities.
The 24 new Hercules will be acquired under Project Air 7404 Phase 1, with deliveries planned to commence in the fourth quarter of 2027. According to the approval of the sale notification issued by the US Defense Security Ac- quisition Agency (DSCA), the deal is worth up to $US6.35 billion ($9.37 billion).
Also widely tipped to be included in the DSR is the de- cision on Air Force’s Air 6000 Phase 6 program, which will consider whether a further 28 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters will be acquired, to bring the total up to 100 units.
At the time of writing in late November, 56 F-35As had been delivered to Australia against the required total of 72. The final aircraft will be delivered before the end of 2023, marking Final Operational Capability (FOC) for the original program.
Air 6000 Phase 6 was initially intended to replace the RAAF’s 24 Boeing Super Hornets, which were acquired from 2011 as a ‘bridging’ air combat capability to mitigate the late delivery of the F-35. However, there have long been rumours of another fighter squadron being raised which, if they turn out to be true, could indicate that the RAAF will retain its Super Hornets – which have many years of life left in them – and acquire additional F-35s.
CYBER SECURITY
And then of course there’s the Australian Signal Director- ates REDSPICE (Resilence – Effects – Defence – Space – Intelligence – Cyber – Enablers)
project, for which the Morrison
government pledged $10 billion over the next ten years.
“This investment in ASD rec- ognises the deteriorating strategic circumstances in our region, char- acterised by rapid military expan- sion, growing coercive behaviour and increased cyberattacks. It acknowledges the nature of con- flict has changed, with cyberat- tacks now commonly preceding other forms of military interven- tion – most recently demonstrated by offensive cyber activity against Ukraine,” then-Minister for De- fence Peter Dutton said when the funding was announced in March.
The need to find $4.2 billion of that money over the Forward Estimates period meant that
the RAAF’s Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) uncrewed aircraft had to be axed by Dutton, saving $1.3 billion. Up to 12 General Atomics (GA-ASI) MQ-9B Sky- Guardian aircraft were to have been acquired under Air 7003 Phase 1 and the program’s axing leaves the ADF with- out a persistent overland surveillance capability – at a time when the effectiveness of similar programs is being reported on a daily basis in Ukraine.
Current Defence Minister Richard Marles has under- taken to reconsider Air 7003 as part of the DSR, but even if it is reinstated it is likely something else will have to be axed to make way.
Other REDSPICE funding will come from the consoli- dation of some of the ASD’s existing programs, but there will still be a significant demand on funding over the years to come. This has been perhaps underscored by the recent hacking of major Australian corporations such as Medi- bank by (allegedly) Russian criminals and REDSPICE will likely be only the beginning.
Where does this leave our crystal ball? Very murky it has to be said – it may well be that the interest will be focussed upon what is not included in the DSR, rather than what is. ■
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