The Royal Australian Air Force’s first two Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters have made their official debut on Australian soil, landing at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon on Friday morning. F-35As A35-001 and A35-002 touched down at approximately 1140am on Friday, flying in from RAAF Base Amberley where they had landed
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the new Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter was the most advanced combat aircraft in the world with lethal technology to destroy our enemies who included the Islamic State terrorists in the Middle East. Challenged on the F-35’s cost and capabilities, the Prime Minister said the Defence Force needed the
This editorial first appeared in the March issue of Australian Aviation. I shouldn’t have been if I had thought about it, but I was quite surprised to see fuselage sections for no fewer than six RAAF F-35s on the production line at Northrop Grumman’s factory in Palmdale, California during a visit there in late January.
Phantom Media, publisher of Australian Aviation and Australian Defence Business Review, published the official Airshow Daily for the four trade days of the Australian International Airshow. For interested readers who didn’t attend the show the four Show Dailies can be downloaded here: Tuesday Avalon Show Daily Wednesday Avalon Show Daily Thursday Avalon Show Daily Friday Avalon
Making its second appearance at the Australian International Airshow, the United States Air Force’s F-22 Raptor demonstration team display is a definite show favourite with its thrust-vectored handling display. However, with Friday’s arrival of the Royal Australian Air Force’s first pair of F-35 Lightning IIs, the Raptor may be upstaged and relegated to second prize in
Not far from where the F-35A will touch down on Friday to make its Australian debut sit a number of forgotten buildings. These hangars in a back corner at Avalon Airport were once hives of activity in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the then Government Aircraft Factory built Australia’s then ‘new’ frontline fighter
