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| Australia orders 58 F-35 Lockheed |
| Australia orders 58 F-35 Lockheed Martin stealth fighters
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 23-April-2014
5:17:30 AM |
| Australia will order 58 more F-35 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin Corp for A$12.4 billion ($11.61 billion), Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday, a purchase that will raise its air combat power to among the world's most advanced.
Australia approved the purchase of 14 of the stealth fighters in 2009, and the additional jets will provide the Royal Australian Air Force with enough aircraft to form three operational squadrons and one training squadron.
The first F-35 aircraft will arrive in Australia in 2018 and enter service with the RAAF in 2020, Abbott said.
"The fifth-generation F-35 is the most advanced fighter in production anywhere in the world and will make a vital contribution to our national security," he told reporters in Canberra.
The Australian purchase is a signal of confidence in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, which is about 70 percent over budget and years behind schedule.
The programme, the Pentagon's most expensive arms development project, has been plagued by technical issues and sceptics say it still faces big challenges, including completing the software needed to integrate weapons on the jet.
Its total cost is now seen at $1.42 trillion, including research, development, procurement and operations through 2065.
The Pentagon last week released a revised estimate for the cost of the 2,443 planes to be purchased by the U.S. military that showed a 1.9 percent increase.
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