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Senior Australian Defence Force (ADF) officials have cast doubt on whether Australia will continue with the nation's biggest defence purchase, the US Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.
The sticking point is the United States has not yet agreed to share sensitive technology for the aircraft.
Testifying at a US Senate Committee in Washington today, the Australian officials made their concerns plain and threatened not to proceed to the next phase of the project unless they are assured they will have access to all technology needed to operate and service the jets.
The Federal Opposition is warning of a gap in Australia's air defence if the strike purchase does not proceed.
At a cost of $12 billion, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) will be Australia's most expensive defence purchase, set to be delivered in 2012.
Rear Admiral Gates is the head of Australia's defence staff in Washington and he has testified today before the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
It is examining the JSF project, which involves America and eight other nations.
"Schedule is critical because we need to replace our ageing F-111 and F/A-18 aircraft," he said.
Sticking points
Rear Admiral Gates has made it clear there are some sticking points.
"Guaranteed access to necessary JSF data and technology to allow Australia to operate and support the JSF will be required before we join the next phase of the project," he said.
Australia is due to sign up for the next phase of the project by December this year.
Rear Admiral Gates has told ABC radio's The World Today program that US laws have to be changed to allow America to share sensitive technology that Australia needs to operate and service the jets.
"Legislative change is a difficult road - I thought our political system in Australia was challenging enough, here's it's quite fascinating," he said.
"[But] I don't think it is impossible."
The federal Opposition has been warning of a looming gap in Australia's air defence between the planned retirement of the F-111s and the delivery of the Joint Strike Fighters.
Rear Admiral Gates says Australia is pushing the US to deliver the new jets on budget and on time.
"I think it's critical to us in that respect. You heard us stress that both the F-111 and the F/A-18 that their departures and what we're trying to work here is that there won't be any potential gap - that the Joint Strike Fighter shows up as planned in 2012," he said.
"Right now, from where I'm sitting, I'm reasonably confident - it's a long way off, but already we need to be in place steps that further signings of MOUs [memorandum of understanding] that's been done, even later this year."
Capability questioned
There has also been concern in Australia that the JSF may not have the highest ability to evade detection and enemy attack that was initially promised.
Air Commodore John Harvey is the director-general of the RAAF New Air Capability project based in Canberra and says he is very confident the fighter's stealth capability is high.
"The situation is that there's been no downgrading of the capability, the requirements are the same, and the aircraft is performing to those requirements," he said.
"What has happened, was there was a re-categorisation of the the terminology in the US and that has lead to the change of one letter in one Powerpoint slide on the Internet - there's no change to the performance or the capability.
"We've been involved in the project now for over three years, we've had ... scientists involved in analysing it, we've had Australian pilots flying simulated missions, and so we're very confident in the capability of the aircraft."
He dismisses Federal Opposition concern that the JSF would not be able to effectively compete against some of the Russian-built jets that air forces in Asia, particularly in China, are using.
"We've done a lot of analysis of this including simulated activities over here, and the aircraft was designed to meet those future threats and threats that aren't even flying yet," he said.
"The US don't spend over $40 billion developing aircraft that's not going to face future threats."
Source: ABC
Senior Australian Defence Force (ADF) officials have cast doubt on whether Australia will continue with the nation's biggest defence purchase, the US Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.
The sticking point is the United States has not yet agreed to share sensitive technology for the aircraft.
Testifying at a US Senate Committee in Washington today, the Australian officials made their concerns plain and threatened not to proceed to the next phase of the project unless they are assured they will have access to all technology needed to operate and service the jets.
The Federal Opposition is warning of a gap in Australia's air defence if the strike purchase does not proceed.
At a cost of $12 billion, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) will be Australia's most expensive defence purchase, set to be delivered in 2012.
Rear Admiral Gates is the head of Australia's defence staff in Washington and he has testified today before the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
It is examining the JSF project, which involves America and eight other nations.
"Schedule is critical because we need to replace our ageing F-111 and F/A-18 aircraft," he said.
Sticking points
Rear Admiral Gates has made it clear there are some sticking points.
"Guaranteed access to necessary JSF data and technology to allow Australia to operate and support the JSF will be required before we join the next phase of the project," he said.
Australia is due to sign up for the next phase of the project by December this year.
Rear Admiral Gates has told ABC radio's The World Today program that US laws have to be changed to allow America to share sensitive technology that Australia needs to operate and service the jets.
"Legislative change is a difficult road - I thought our political system in Australia was challenging enough, here's it's quite fascinating," he said.
"[But] I don't think it is impossible."
The federal Opposition has been warning of a looming gap in Australia's air defence between the planned retirement of the F-111s and the delivery of the Joint Strike Fighters.
Rear Admiral Gates says Australia is pushing the US to deliver the new jets on budget and on time.
"I think it's critical to us in that respect. You heard us stress that both the F-111 and the F/A-18 that their departures and what we're trying to work here is that there won't be any potential gap - that the Joint Strike Fighter shows up as planned in 2012," he said.
"Right now, from where I'm sitting, I'm reasonably confident - it's a long way off, but already we need to be in place steps that further signings of MOUs [memorandum of understanding] that's been done, even later this year."
Capability questioned
There has also been concern in Australia that the JSF may not have the highest ability to evade detection and enemy attack that was initially promised.
Air Commodore John Harvey is the director-general of the RAAF New Air Capability project based in Canberra and says he is very confident the fighter's stealth capability is high.
"The situation is that there's been no downgrading of the capability, the requirements are the same, and the aircraft is performing to those requirements," he said.
"What has happened, was there was a re-categorisation of the the terminology in the US and that has lead to the change of one letter in one Powerpoint slide on the Internet - there's no change to the performance or the capability.
"We've been involved in the project now for over three years, we've had ... scientists involved in analysing it, we've had Australian pilots flying simulated missions, and so we're very confident in the capability of the aircraft."
He dismisses Federal Opposition concern that the JSF would not be able to effectively compete against some of the Russian-built jets that air forces in Asia, particularly in China, are using.
"We've done a lot of analysis of this including simulated activities over here, and the aircraft was designed to meet those future threats and threats that aren't even flying yet," he said.
"The US don't spend over $40 billion developing aircraft that's not going to face future threats."
Source: ABC
