Australia May Acquire Up To 4 More C-17s

Johnston said that the government has begun the process of purchasing two additional aircraft and that it has also requested pricing and availability data for two further aircraft through the US foreign military sales process.

The minister’s office confirmed to Defense News that the second two C-17As are options and will be considered under Australia’s defense white paper process. The white paper is due to be released in the middle of next year.

The initial two aircraft will bring Australia’s C-17A fleet to eight, which Johnston said would “significantly enhance” the Air Force’s capacity to conduct military airlift and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations around the world.

“Since the first delivery in 2006, we have seen the C-17A Globemaster perform exceptionally well at the forefront of Australia’s military operations and humanitarian work. Recent global events have seen Australia’s national capabilities like the C-17A come to the fore to assist our friends and allies,” he said.

Australian C-17As have recently been involved in a diverse range of tasks, including the recovery of bodies from the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in the Ukraine, under Operation Bring Them Home, and the air delivery of military stores to Erbil in Northern Iraq, to assist in the fight against Islamic State forces.

“The ability to rapidly react and move large elements of Australia’s support systems over long distances during these times has highlighted the need for us to have a good sized fleet,” Johnston said.

“The aircraft is also currently supporting Australian and coalition forces in Afghanistan and the Middle East, providing a military long-range, strategic heavy airlift capability between Australia and the world.”

The two, and possibly four, C-17As are from the batch of 10 so-called “white tail” aircraft Boeing internally funded prior to the announcement that it would close the Long Beach, California, production line in September last year.

A Boeing spokesman in Australia confirmed that the last of the white tail aircraft is due to be completed in mid-2015.

Under Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the government has pledged to return defense spending to 2 percent of GDP over the coming years; the current financial year budget has already seen an increase from around 1.7 to 1.8 per cent.

According to Mark Thomson, a senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, this spending increase will be adequate to fund the additional C-17As.

“If the government actually does increase funding to 2 percent of GDP there’s going to be adequate funding for these and other new initiatives that we haven’t heard of yet,” Thomson said