The Royal Australian Air Force will have another three Super Hornet

The Royal Australian Air Force will have more firepower with another three Super Hornet fighter jets to be delivered by the end of the year.

Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare said the three additional aircraft would add to the fleet of 11 Super Hornets already here in Australia.

“Super Hornets are on-schedule and under budget,” Mr Clare said.

“They will add to the fire power of our Air Force, taking our air capability to the next generation of fighter plane.”

Mr Clare also released footage of the first test firing of the air-to-ground Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW C) outside of the United States.

“This weapon was dropped from one of our new Super Hornets,” Mr Clare said.

“The glide weapon has a range of up to 100 kilometres and provides a precision strike capability against hardened targets, such as bunkers.”

The Super Hornets conducted two firings of the JSOW C at the Woomera Test Range against two separate hardened concrete targets between 30 August and 15 September 2010.

Both targets were successfully destroyed and all test outcomes were achieved.

“This is a significant milestone. It means that Super Hornets are on track to become operational later this year,” Mr Clare said.

“The arrival of the Super Hornets marks an important transition for the RAAF, who will decommission the final F-111 squadron after four decades of service.”

The F-111 squadron will be farewelled in the first week of December at RAAF Base Amberley.

DoD