List of current Royal Australian Air Force aircraft

This is a list of the current Royal Australian Air Force aircraft in operation:

Current aircraft

Aircraft Type Unit Operating Number of Aircraft Origin
Combat aircraft
Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II multirole fighter 61st Fighter Squadron, United States Air Force (for training and testing) 2 (+70 on order) United States
Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighter No. 1 Squadron 24 United States
No. 6 Squadron
McDonnell Douglas/GAF F/A-18A and F/A-18B Hornet multirole fighter No. 3 Squadron 71 Australia
(License-built)
No. 75 Squadron
No. 77 Squadron
No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit
Patrol aircraft
Lockheed AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft No. 10 Squadron 19 United States
No. 11 Squadron
AEW&C and EW aircraft
Boeing E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control aircraft No. 2 Squadron 6[1] United States
Boeing EA-18G Growler Electronic Warfare aircraft 12 (one delivered)[2] United States
Transport aircraft
Alenia C-27J Spartan No. 35 Squadron (RAAF Base Richmond) 2 (+8 on order) Italy
Lockheed C-130J Hercules medium transport No. 37 Squadron (RAAF Base Richmond) 12 United States
Boeing C-17 Globemaster heavy transport No. 36 Squadron (RAAF Base Amberley) 8 United States
Airbus KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport No. 33 Squadron (RAAF Base Amberley) 5 (+2 on order) Spain
Boeing BBJ (Boeing Business Jet) VIP transport No. 34 Squadron (Defence Establishment Fairbairn) 2 United States
Bombardier Challenger 604 VIP transport No. 34 Squadron (Defence Establishment Fairbairn) 3 Canada
Beechcraft King Air 350 light transportA No. 38 Squadron (RAAF Base Townsville) 8 United States
Training aircraft
Pilatus/Hawker de Havilland PC-9/A advanced trainer Central Flying School (RAAF Base East Sale)[3] 65 Australia
(License-built)
No. 2 Flying Training School (RAAF Base Pearce)
Forward Air Control Development Unit (RAAF Base Williamtown).
BAe Hawk 127 lead-in fighter trainer No. 76 Squadron (RAAF Base Williamtown) 33 United Kingdom
No. 79 Squadron (RAAF Base Pearce).
Beechcraft King Air 350 navigation & specialised trainer No. 32 Squadron (RAAF Base East Sale) 8 United States
Remotely Piloted Aircraft
IAI Heron RPA No. 5 Flight 4B Israel
MQ-4C Triton RPA No. 92 Wing (*7 on order)[4] United States

Future acquisitions

Air 6000 Ph2A/2B: Lockheed F-35A prototype
Air 7000 Ph2B: P-8A and P-3C

See also

Notes

A. ^ This aircraft is considered an interim capability to cover the retirement of the de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou and the introduction of its replacement under the much troubled Project Air 8000 Phase 2.
B ^ The aircraft are leased from the Canadian firm Macdonald Dettwiler and Associates.[14] Training on the UAVs is provided by a third aircraft operated by No. 5 Flight RAAF.[15]

References

  1. Waldron, Greg. "RAAF receives final Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft". Flight International, June 5, 2012.
  2. "Pilatus PC-9/A trainer". RAAF Website. Archived from the original (url) on 2008-03-29. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  3. "MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System". http://www.airforce.gov.au. RAAF. Retrieved 3 July 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  4. "JSF Joint Strike Fighter". Royal Australian Air Force website. Archived from the original on 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
  5. "Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft AIR 6000 Phase 2A/B". Defence Materiel Organisation. May 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  6. "AIR 7000 Phase 1B/2B". Defence Materiel Organisation. June 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  7. "AIR 8000 Battlefield Airlift". Defence Materiel Organisation. December 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  8. Smith MP, Stephen (2012-05-10). "New Battlefield aircraft for the Air Force". Minister for Defence and Minister for Defence Materiel – Joint Media Release. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  9. Ellery, David (2012-05-10). "New airlifters confirmed for RAAF". The Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au: Fairfax Media). Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  10. "AIR 5428 Ph 1 Pilot Training System". Defence Materiel Organisation. December 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  11. 1 2 "Defence confirms acquisition of two ISR and EW Gulfstreams". Australian Aviation. 7 January 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  12. Waldron, Greg (4 January 2016). "L-3 G550 contract suggests new Australian surveillance deal". Flightglobal. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  13. Walters, Patrick (8 September 2010). "Heron on the wing to guide Diggers". The Australian. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  14. McLaughlin, Andrew (April 2010). "Nankeen. The RAAF enters the UAV era with Heron lease". Australian Aviation. No. 270 (Fyshwick: Phantom Media). p. 31. ISSN 0813-0876.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, March 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.