Australia is signing up to buy an additional 58 of Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for $11.5 billion, raising the total number to 72, the country’s prime minister, Tony Abbott, said Wednesday.
Australia was already lined up for 14 of the fifth-generation stealth fighters, which will start delivering in 2018. Abbott said the country expects to have the entire fleet of six dozen delivered and operational by 2023.
“It will ensure our edge as a regional power,” Abbott told reporters of the planned purchase, according to a transcript on the prime minister’s website.
The F-35s are to replace the F/A-18A/B Hornets that have been in service for more than three decades and are slated to begin retirement in 2022, Abbott said.
Australia’s commitment to the F-35 is a boost to Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon, which plans to buy more than 2,440 of them. The aircraft have been plagued by massive cost overruns and delays, and Australia had been reviewing whether to proceed with the purchase of the fighters. Other countries, such as Canada, Italy and Turkey are also taking a second look at the commitment to the program. If countries drop out of the program or buy fewer than planned, it could cause unit prices to rise.
Abbott noted that costs have begun to come down and stabilize and said the aircraft will be a cornerstone of the country’s security and ability to operate with allied nations also buying the Joint Strike Fighters.
“If you actually look at this program and you compare it with the way complex long-term defense programs typically work out, yes there has been some escalation in costs, but nothing like as dramatic as we sometimes see,” Abbott said. “We are confident that all of the logistical issues are well on the way to being ironed out.”
The government will be investing about $1.6 billion in new facilities and infrastructure at Royal Australian Air Force bases in New South Wales and the Northern Territory, and the country will benefit from more than $1.5 billion on work on the aircraft.
RAAF Chief Air Marshal Geoff Brown said that after contemplating the F-35 the country is making the right decision to buy more.
“As part of an F-35 multinational partnership, led by the U.S., we will be introducing aircraft that is highly interoperable with our allies and will be continually upgraded to maintain that technological edge,” he said. “The decision itself has been a long time in the making, but I think it’s now clear that the JSF will be a success and will surpass the capability of any other jet fighter that’s currently in production.”
Lockheed Martin said in a statement that it is committed to supporting Australia’s industrial base in the continuing production of the fighters.
“Lockheed Martin appreciates the confidence the Australian government has demonstrated in the F-35 by their decision,” the company said.