The last of the Royal Australian Navy’s Amphibious Landing Platforms (LPAs) has been formally retired as the HMAS Kanimbla was decommissioned on Friday at her homeport of Garden Island in Sydney. The Kanimbla served in the Navy for 17 years, taking part in Australian and coalition operations from the western Pacific to the Middle East.
The hulks of 23 decomissioned F-111s have been dumped in the Swanbank landfill near Ipswich, angering fans of the fighter jet. The F-111s had been based at RAAF Amberley before they were decomissioned last year in favor of the F/A-18 Super Hornet. The US government places tight restrictions on how equipment obtained through its Foreign
An RAAF AP-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft has deployed to support a multi-national operation targeting illegal tuna fishing in the South Pacific. Operation KURU KURU, which ran from November 7 to 14, patrolled a 30-million square kilometre area as part of annual efforts to keep poachers out of the lucrative Pacific Tuna fisheries. The Orion
Airbus Military has started final assembly of its first production A400M transport. The French air force is scheduled to receive the airlifter (MSN7) in late 2012 or early 2013, Airbus said. Eight other A400Ms are at various stages of production. The A400M began test flights in late 2009 and is positioned as an intermediate sized
The US Navy has tabbed Boeing to begin engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of an infrared air-to-air targeting system for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter. The US$135 million contract for the Infrared Search and Track (IRST) sensor represents a key element of the Navy’s Block II Super Hornet flight plan. The IRST is scheduled for
Australia will donate four C-130H Hercules transports to Indonesia in a deal announced this weekend at the Asia-Pacific summit in Bali. The quartet of ex-RAAF aircraft, worth about $30 million, will be tabbed for humanitarian and disaster relief efforts, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in announcing the deal. Australia also announced plans to send three
