Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II_Australian_procurement
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Australian procurement
Australian Government defence project
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Australian procurement (also known as AIR600 Phase 2A/2B) is a defence procurement project of the Australian Government to buy 72 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force. The program is intended to replace the Air Force's McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fleet.[1]
In 2008, Australia planned to buy 100 F-35A models, shortly after this, the amount in which Australia had planned to buy had been reduced. During the prime ministership of Tony Abbott, in 2014, Australia agreed to purchase an extra 58 of the fighters, bringing Australia's total order to 72 of the aircraft.[2] The first Australian F-35 was delivered in 2014, from an American air base in Fort Worth, Texas.[3] At the end of 2020, The RAAF had reported that 60 out of the 72 aircraft ordered had been delivered, with the final 12 to be delivered by the end of 2023.[4] In February 2024, 63 F-35A are already delivered to RAAF, and the last 9 are to be delivered in the second half of the year.[5]
Currently, the Royal Australian Air Force maintains three squadrons of the F-35A throughout Australia, one each at the airbases of: RAAF Base Williamtown; RAAF Base Tindal, and a training squadron at RAAF Base Williamtown.[4]