Australia considers Super Hornet fleet expansion

Australia will decide in 2013 whether to double the size of its Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet multirole fighter fleet to avoid any gap in air combat capability, Defence Minister Stephen Smith said on 13 December.

Smith said a letter of request (LoR) would be sent to the US government seeking cost and availability information on up to 24 Super Hornets through the US Foreign Military Sales programme.

He said this did not commit Australia in any way. "Following receipt of the LoR response, the government will further and fully consider Australia's air combat capability in 2013," he announced.

The move follows delays in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, and concern that deliveries of the up to 100 JSFs Australia is considering ordering may arrive well after the anticipated retirement of the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF's) 71 legacy F/A-18A/B Hornets around 2019-2020.

The last of the RAAF's 24 in-service Super Hornets arrived in 2011 as a bridging capability between the withdrawal in 2010 of the RAAF's F-111 strike aircraft and the anticipated arrival of the first JSFs in Australia around 2017 – now delayed for at least two years.