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Reported delays to RAAF F-35 deliveries
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In August a report in The Australian newspaper stated that: “The RAAF faces at least a two year delay in acquiring its planned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter force as the Rudd government moves to exert tighter control on the defence budget”, and “will not receive its initial squadron of F-35s until 2017, at the earliest. ” The article also stated that “the RAAF will get two F-35 fighters for test and evaluation purposes in 2014. ” If taken at face value, this is a logical result of the current constrained defence budget which has a requirement to save “$20 billion over the next 10 years. ” But those savings are supposed to be re-invested in capital equipment, including F-35 aircraft, so if the article is correct one could assume that either Defence does not believe the $20 billion in savings will be made, or there are other reasons for delaying the delivery of the JSF.
According to the Pentagon’s Joint Estimate Team (JET) 2008 report, development of the F-35 is running two years behind the published schedule.
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