PHOTOS: The first F-35A Joint Strike Fighters in Australia's $17 billion fleet have finally landed on home soil
After 16 years of development, testing and considerable controversy, the first two of the Royal Australian Air Force's F-35A Joint Strike Fighters finally touched down on home soil today RAAF Base Williamtown, north of Newcastle.
The $100 million planes - the total fleet of 72 F-35s is expected to cost taxpayers $17 billion - will be part of Number 3 Squadron in the Air Combat Group and are the first two to be permanently based in Australia after several months of testing and training with the planes at the USA's Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.
Lockheed Martin hopes to get the cost down to $80 million per plane by 2020.
The RAAF has now received nine F-35As, with the other seven still operating from the US training facility. Today's delivery comes nearly four years to the day since the first of the Australian F35s arrived at Luke Air Force Base.
Australia is part of a consortium of nine nations, including the USA, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Denmark and Norway, in the Lockheed-Martin-built project, which has so far cost more than $US1 trillion.
Defence minister Christopher Pyne MP, was there for the arrival of the plans, which flew from Arizona at speeds of up to 1975km/h, saying the multi-role stealth fighter will dramatically Australia's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
“The Joint Strike Fighter can get closer to threats undetected; find, engage and jam electronic signals from targets; and share information with other platforms,” he said.
In an historic day in Australian aviation, the first two F-35A Joint Strike Fighters to be permanently based in Australia arrived at @AusAirForce RAAF Base Williamtown ➡️ https://t.co/vigdcieVwm #auspol #ausdef pic.twitter.com/kTJqAJ6f13
— Christopher Pyne (@cpyne) December 9, 2018
Australian businesses have also been part of the F-35A's development, with more than 50 Australian companies directly sharing in $1.2 billion in production contracts according to Defence Industry Minister Steven Ciobo
“Up to 1500 contractors have worked on the construction of the facilities to accommodate the F-35A at RAAF Base Williamtown, representing approximately $1 billion of investment in the Hunter region alone,” he said.
Australia's fifth-generation F35A planes are also the first among the program partner nations outside the US with Block 3F capability, the program’s final software system, which unlocks its full war-fighting potential.
"Unlocks its full war-fighting potential" is something even the US Navy doesn't have. Its F-35Cs won't complete Block 3F testing until at least late 2018.
The F-35A jets will replace the RAAF's aging fleet of 71 F/A-18A/B Hornets.
https://youtu.be/pLmrL_ByGAo
The F-35A JSF plances will be based at RAAF Base Williamtown and at RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory.
Here's a look at the planes before and as they arrived today.