New battlefield aircraft for the raaf

[Bob C]

The Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, and Minister for Defence Materiel, Jason Clare, have announced that the Government has agreed to purchase 10C27J Spartan aircraft at a cost of $1.4 billion.

The C27J will replace the Caribous which were retired in 2009 after more than 40 years service. The C27J complements the capabilities of the C130s and C17s and uses common infrastructure and aircraft systems such as engines, avionics and the cargo handling systems.

The C27s will be based at RAAF Richmond with the first aircraft expected to be delivered in 2015 and the Initial Operating Capability is scheduled for the end of 2016.

But what the Government giveth it also taketh away as the retirement of the C130H was announced in the Budget with some reports suggesting that all C130H flying will cease on 30 June.

So that will leave another capability gap for nearly 4 years as the RAAF will be down at least 7 heavy lifting aircraft (C130H) until the C27s arrive. I know that the RAAF will acquire a sixth C17 next year, but even if that can do the job of 2 C130Hs, our heavy lifting capability will still be significantly reduced.

And although the RAAF's C130Js are expected to take over, three are usually based at a sandy place overseas so I think our resources will be thinly stretched as there will only be a maximum of 9, and probably less due to maintenance requirements, in Australia to do plenty of work.

So perhaps an order for a few more C130Js may also be in the offing ?