1 IMDEX 2025 Digital Banner 01 728x90pxThe delivery of the final nine of Australia’s fleet of 72 F-35A Lightning II aircraft underscores the Australian government’s commitment to keeping Australia safe by ensuring the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has what it needs to defend the nation. Defence has undertaken the rapid introduction of this important capability since the first two F-35A Lightning II aircraft arrived in Australia on 10 December 2018.

The F-35A aircraft fleet, in conjunction with the EA-18G Growler and F/A-18F Super Hornets, are the cornerstone of Australia’s air defence and strike capability, as outlined in the 2024 National Defence Strategy. As a multi-role fighter, the F-35A can perform air-to-air and air-to-surface missions, and utilise stealth technology, electronic protection, electronic attack and advanced countermeasures to maximise lethality and survivability.

The arrival of the final nine aircraft also demonstrates an enhancement of the warfighting capability of Australia’s F-35A fleet, with these aircraft the first in the fleet to receive Technology Refresh 3, enabling Block 4 upgrades that will support the new and enhanced capabilities required to meet the evolving threats of the future.

This important milestone concludes a year in which accelerated capability delivery for the ADF was pushed to the forefront with the elevation of the Defence Industry portfolio to Cabinet.   ADF capability delivery over the course of calendar year 2024 includes:

  • Three new missile types fired from Navy ships for the first time, including the Tomahawk guided missile, Standard Missile 6 and the Naval Strike Missile.
  • Construction commenced on the first Hunter Class Frigate;
  • Two shipbuilders were selected to progress designs for Australia’s general-purpose frigate, a new program announced in 2024 following the recommendations of the Surface Fleet Review;
  • The Navy took delivery of the first prototype of Ghost Shark, an autonomous robotic undersea vehicle;
  • A ship design was selected for the new Landing Craft Heavy;
  • 46 new M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks were delivered for use by the Army;
  • 7 new UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters were delivered to Australia from the United States, taking the total of Australian Army Black Hawk helicopters to 10. More helicopters will be delivered in 2025;
  • Construction work began on a $200 million deep maintenance facility at RAAF Edinburgh for the ADF’s Boeing 737 variants;
  • Australia took possession of its first Triton remotely piloted aircraft system, delivered from the United States;

The 2024-25 Budget saw Defence funding increase to $764.6 billion over the decade to support a more capable and self-reliant ADF that can safeguard Australia’s security into the future. This builds on a record of delivery in financial year 2023-24, where Defence’s achieved acquisition result was the largest on record at $16.6 billion, with an estimated 54 per cent of funding contributing to Australian industry. Sustainment over the same period was more than $16.4 billion, with an estimated 79 per cent of funding contributing to Australian industry.

The government’s commitment to Defence is an investment in a future made in Australia – ensuring we keep Australians safe, while delivering jobs and opportunities right across the country for decades to come.

Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery Pat Conroy said: “The Albanese Government is delivering the capabilities the ADF needs to make Australians safer and strengthening our sovereign defence industry to deliver jobs and a future made in Australia. It is also important to pay tribute to thousands of uniformed ADF members, members of the Australian public service and workers in the Australian defence industry who all play a vital role in the defence of our nation.”

APDR_Bulletin_728X90


For Editorial Inquiries Contact:
Editor Kym Bergmann at kym.bergmann@venturamedia.net

For Advertising Inquiries Contact:
Group Sales Director Simon Hadfield at simon.hadfield@venturamedia.net

Previous articleEmbraer wins Super Tucano, C-390 deals
Next articleEmbraer sells four A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to new customer

12 COMMENTS

  1. An election looms nigh and it appears that Mr Marles and his team have been busy sending press releases to APDR and other publications to tempt them into re-hashing partisan political promotional material while most of their staff is on annual leave. The inconvenient truth for Mr Marles is that the defence budget over the four year forward estimates has NOT increased – indeed it has not been maintained in real terms. If making grandiose statements was all a nation needed to do to protect its citizens, Australia would be a global superpower. It’s time for the federal government (regardless of which party is in office) to take defence and our nation’s sovereign industry capability seriously and start injecting some REAL money into the forward estimates at the expense of the Ponzi scheme that doubles as NDIS. The government should also conduct an immediate audit into the nation’s preparedness for mobilisation and use all policy levers at its disposal including opportunity zones, greenfields workplace relations, co-investment and tax breaks to correct the perilous situation in which our nation finds itself.

  2. I’m not quite sure Marles and Co understand the meaning of Acceleration. It actually means to “ to Go Faster” some of those Points they brag about are either 5 or 10 years in the making , are no where near commencement or so far in the future they will be obsolete on delivery and others were initiated by the previous Government. The big one “ We fired 3 Missiles from a system that has been firing them for awhile. The facts are Under this Mob the ADF has lost its Helicopter Capability, Halved the Army’s combat mobility , dithered around while the Submarine Force became obsolete and the surface Fleet quietly disappears. Who ever wins the next Election one thing is clear The Department Of Defence needs a clean out, we need a Ministerial Staff that actually knows what they’re doing.Aquire Equipment purchases that are Capability rather than Politically driven and a Department Head That has the Balls to stand up to the U.S Lobbyists And interference from Our own Military boot lickers

  3. 72 network centric stealth fighter bombers, 46 M1 Abrahams tanks, backscatter radar, wedgetail AWACS, helicopter carriers. 9 of the F35s, ready for Block 4 upgrade, all of our fleet, capable of Block 4 upgrade.

    We’re not an insubstantial armed force, the Russian equipment has proven unsuccessful, against a nation, with a third it’s population. The Chinese equipment is worse, 250 stealth fighter bombers, that can only get into the air 10% of the time. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have invested in this equipment, but the panicked talk of the huge strategic threat is overblown.

    Spending 10 times as much on the nuclear submarines, as on the F35s, hard to justify, at 72 times the price of an F35. Ghost Bat, ghost shark, stealth air to air refueling, strategic conventional missiles, would be a higher priority if you asked me and I know you’re not. A fiefdom, taking an entire year, of the federal budget, for 12 boats, with infrared, sonar, blue green laser, heat signature, combined artificial intelligence detection. Around the corner, drones that deploy smaller drones, network detection better value.

    • I also agree that far greater investment in uncrewed / robotic systems – particularly for naval applications – makes a lot of sense. Having written that, F-35s with the Block 4 upgrade are formidable aircraft, particularly when connected with broader Australian and Coalition networks.

  4. Patting themselves on the back for delivering reduced functionality late and well above budget.
    Simply bizarre.

  5. I’ll echo the statement of others that this press release appears to be little other than an early attempt to grab headlines and shift attention from more domestic issues such as high interest rates and the increased cost of living before a forthcoming election. As it stands from a military perspective we are better off today than we were three years ago, but not really because of the efforts of the Albanese government. Especially considering the delays in acquisition from the DSR and capability cuts due the modest “increase” in defence spending over the forward estimates. Sorry for the novella but here goes:

    The F-35 program has been decades in the making and simply being there while it partially crosses the finishing line is nothing to boast about. However, the Albanese government saw fit to cancel the fourth squadron of F-35’s which would have replaced the squadron of F-18F’s based in Amberley. While I agreed with the decision to extend the Super Hornet’s and Growlers to block 3 through 2036, this should not come at the expense of a fourth F-35 squadron. The DSR called for an expeditionary capable air force and a squadron or more of F-35B’s would have been a brilliant complement to the existing force structure allowing us the forward base F-35 and potentially in the future resurrect our fixed wing naval aviation capability.

    The acquisition of and now fielding of the Tomahawk LACM, SM-6 and NSM are all really positive developments but were also all programs initiated by previous governments.

    As for the Hunter Frigate program, while it’s great that construction is finally starting in earnest, I’m not sure any government, either Labour or Coalition comes out looking good in the wash. While possibly representing the pinnacle of surfaced based anti-submarine warfare, it’ll be 9+ years and $27 billion dollars spent before it reaches initial operating capability. I think it may have been better to exempt this bullet point from the press release.

    As for the Landing Craft Heavy, shafting two Australian maritime design firms (Birdon and Sea Transport Solutions) by selecting the Damen LST100 doesn’t quite seem like positive the government thinks it is. Apparently a “Future built in Australia” also doesn’t mean a future designed in Australia.

    As for the new Tanks the DSR was clear we would be moving to just one armoured fighting brigade and so required less Tanks but we are getting enough for three brigades anyway. We now have a “top heavy” armoured formation with way more tanks than any single brigade can support. Good for a strategic reserve, but without additional accompanying Infantry Fighting Vehicles, cut by the government from 450 to now only 129, the majority of these Tanks are now “useless”. And to add insult to injury the USA DoD has decided the current Abram’s M1A2 SEP3 are to encumbered with heavy add-ons (and counterbalancing dead weight) and as a result have begun a new program to reduce weight, improve the power train and logistics while properly incorporating systems for ATGM and anti-drone warfare. We should have delayed or deferred the decision the acquire the new fleet given the DSR.

    While the decision to replace the “troubled” MRH-90’s for the UH-60M’s remains contentious and was a decision of the previous government, the permanent grounding of the Taipan fleet after the previous fatal incident has left us without a real medium lift capability for the next few years. Having only ~25% of a capability compared when the Albanese government entered office is not actually making Australia safer. Not to mention the disgraceful way they were disposed of.

    About the only truly positive thing the Albanese government can lay claim to is the Ghost Shark program which appears to be bucking the trend by delivering early and in budget. How much of this was the result of Advanced Strategic Capability Accelerator or simply Anduril being Anduril (A highly disruptive and successful new player in the defence industry space) remains to be seen.

    Overall I’m giving the Albanese government a “C-” for all matters related to defence.

    • Thanks Robbo for that detailed analysis. I agree with your views. In summary, we are getting very poor value for the $53 billion per year being spent on Defence. The system is screaming out for a funding increase with the quest for nuclear-powered submarines vacuuming up ever larger amounts of cash – but I don’t see that happening. In the lead-up to the next election, I will watch with interest to see if the Coalition shows a willingness to do anything differently. I suspect not.

  6. Talking about the disgraceful disposal of equipment, I’m wondering if it was just a ‘press release’ announcing the our old Abrams to Ukraine was just that and only that?
    Anyone any news?

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here