Defence has declared Final Operational Capability (FOC) for their F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighters, the culmination of a procurement program launched two decades ago.
FOC means the RAAF’s fleet of 72 F-35s are able to perform their full range of required missions, with enough trained pilots and all support services and infrastructure in place.
“We achieved final operational capability, which is our major milestone, on 7 July this year,” Australian Defence Force Admiral David Johnston told Senate estimates last week.
Why Defence didn’t make a bigger deal of this at the time isn’t known.
Admiral Johnston acknowledged attainment of F-35 FOC when being questioned about F-35 flying hours.
He said the F-35 fleet had been introduced to service in batches as they arrived from the manufacturer Lockheed Martin in the US.
The first pair arrived in December 2018 with the last nine of 72 touching down in December last year.
With the full fleet now in Australia, it was to be expected that flying hours would increase, he said.
“Over time, we will be able to better determine what flying rate of effort is necessary to maintain air crew competency, where we may seek to make adjustments between live flying or use of simulators,” he said.
Australia opted to join the F-35 development program in 2002 but did not formally decide to buy the aircraft until 2006.
Initially FOC was scheduled for December 2023 but was delayed by the extended rollout of the Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) hardware and software integration and Block 4 upgrades.
The final nine aircraft are the first RAAF F-35s to receive the TR-3 updates. Those enable the Block 4 upgrades which support new and enhanced warfighting capabilities.
TR-3 and Block 4 deliver very substantial improvements, with TR-3 incorporating more powerful processors, greater memory and enhanced pilots displays.
These open the way for the Block 4 upgrades which incude the new APG-85 radar and improved Distributed Aperture System (DAS), integration of additional weapons and more powerful electronic warfare capabilities.
In the estimates hearing, Defence rejected claims that F-35 sustainment was being reduced.
Head of the Defence Capability, Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) Chris Deeble had referred to a reduction of 68 positions with BAE Systems at RAAF Williamtown.
He said only 63 of those had been redeployed.
“From a BAE workforce perspective, there will be additional staff as we look to open up more mod lines, 12 maintenance bays next year,” he said.
“We anticipate a growth of approximately 100 employees from mid-2026 through to mid-2028. There was a reduction in scope pertaining to 22 positions for Lockheed Martin and only one Lockheed Martin employee was not redeployed.
“The workforce is still extant and we have worked closely with both Lockheed Martin and with BAE to ensure that workforce has been redeployed where possible.”