Australia's first five Super Hornets to arrive on Friday

[nandu]

Australia's first five Super Hornets to arrive on Friday

Australia's defence minister has confirmed that the first flight of its air force's new Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets into their home base will be on 26 March.
Canberra is acquiring 24 Super Hornets, and the first batch of five will arrive at the Royal Australian Air Force's base in Amberley, Queensland, says John Faulkner, who plans to witness the event.
"Five Super Hornets have departed NAS Lemoore in California after extensive preparations, including acceptance flights and ground tests," Faulkner says.
"While air-to-air refuelling is occurring, the long journey to Australia involves several stops, including Hawaii and New Zealand."
The 24 Super Hornets on order "will arrive at RAAF Amberley progressively during 2010 and 2011", the minister says. The aircraft will "provide a bridging capability during the transition to the [Lockheed Martin] F-35 Joint Strike Fighter", Faulkner adds.

http://www.flightglobal.com

 

[nandu]

F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters touch down Australia

The Royal Australian Air Force received its first batch of F/A-18F Super Hornets when five of the fighter aircraft touched down its base here in Queensland on Friday.

The aircraft arrived at 0134 hours local time following a formation flight over Southeast Queensland with some of the F-111s they will replace, the Australian Defence Ministry announced.

Australian defence officials along with officials from the US Navy and Boeing, which has designed and developed the combat aircraft, were present on the occassion.

Pilots and aircrew from the RAAF were in the US state of California last week, readying to fly the Super Hornets home.

The Super Hornets, nick-named ‘Rhinos’, will be operated by Numbers 1 and 6 Squadrons at RAAF Amberley.

With the multi-role fighters' arrival, Australia has received its first new combat aircraft in 25 years.

The new fighters will replace the Air Force's aging fleet of F-111 strike bombers.

The Australian Government had signed a $6 billion contract with the US to acquire 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets. It expects to get half of the fighters by the end of this year and rest 12 by 2011.

http://www.brahmand.com