Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fawcett, the chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade for his question. Indeed, in the 2016 white paper the Turnbull government committed to creating a more capable, agile and potent Australian Defence Force, and that is exactly what we are doing. It has been an historic few weeks for the Royal Australian Air Force in that context.

I am very pleased to advise that the first of Australia's EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft have now entered service after making their debut at the Avalon Airshow recently. The Growlers, which give Australia a dedicated electronic attack capability for the first time, made their debut at the end of last month. Through their jamming ports the Growlers can disrupt military electronic systems such as radars to protect our personnel and particularly to improve our situational awareness.

I was at RAAF Base Amberley two weeks ago, where the government is investing more than $350 million to upgrade facilities to support this very important new capability. I spoke to crew, maintainers and base leadership about the new planes. They are very excited by the prospect that by the middle of the year all 12 Growlers will be based at Amberley as part of No. 6 Squadron, significantly enhancing Australia's air power when it achieves initial operational capability next year.

Also, our first two F-35A Joint Strike Fighters also made their Australian debut at Avalon. This is a very important milestone for the Australian Joint Strike Fighter, and gave those who attended the air show a view of Australia's future combat aircraft and two very impressive pilots the opportunity to pilot them from the US to Australia for the show. When Australia's F-35As enter service in 2020 it will mark a significant step forward in our air combat capability.

Together, the F-35A and the Growler represent a potent and technologically advanced air combat and strike capability that is essential to our ability to defend Australia and to support our national interests.