Defence Update

Australian Hornet Programme Proceeding To Plan

The Royal Australian Air Force will have its three permanent fighter squadrons re-equipped with McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornets by mid-1989, according to current plans. The first of the squadrons to re-equip – No. 3 Squadron – should receive the last of its aircraft in May this year. This will be followed by No. 77 and No. 75 Squadrons over the next two years.

Production line ‘hiccups’ at the Government Aircraft Factories (now renamed Aerospace Technologies of Australia Pty Ltd) in Victoria meant a slippage of two Hornets on what was planned to be handed over to the RAAF by the end of 1986. Slippages on the production line during the last 12 months or so have been due to a series of problems over the supply of parts from the United States, refining production techniques and the unsettling effects of uncertainties over the future of GAF.

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