THE 7:30PM REPORT TRANSCRIPT……….
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s1873007.htm
Broadcast: 15/03/2007
[size=5]Nelson stands by fighter jet decision[/size]
Reporter: Mark Bannerman
KERRY O’BRIEN: Welcome to the program. When the Government announced it would be spending $6 billion to buy 24 new fighter bombers last week, the defence establishment might have been expected to applaud. But, if there was applause, it was seriously muted. The criticism wasn’t. The Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, has come under sustained fire from a wide range of experts, including two former senior Air Force officers, who say the billions will be wasted on a poorly performed plane to fill a capability gap that isn’t there. Now Mr Nelson is fighting back, saying it’s a sound decision, for which he takes full responsibility. Mark Bannerman reports.
MARK BANNERMAN: It’s sleek, it’s fast. It’s called the Super Hornet. And, if you believe the Government, it’s the answer to our immediate strategic air needs.
BRENDAN NELSON, DEFENCE MINISTER: The Super Hornet, the Block 2, the most advanced version of it, is a very capable, very stealthy aircraft.
RICK MCCRARY, INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM DIRECTOR, BOEING: The Super Hornet Block 2 is a breakthrough aeroplane. Rugged long-life air frame, with great handling characteristics. It’s been truly enhanced. It really makes it a next generation strike fighter.
MARK BANNERMAN: But it seems not everyone loves a Hornet.
AIR VICE-MARSHAL PETER CRISS (RET.): I am absolutely astounded that we’re going to spend $6 billion of the taxpayers’ money on an interim aircraft.
JOEL FITZGIBBON, OPPOSITION DEFENCE SPOKESMAN: The Super Hornet purchase is a $6 billion taxpayer funded election year fix. It’s a patchup job.
MARK BANNERMAN: And it’s not just the price that’s stunned politicians and aviation experts, it is the plane itself.
PETER CRISS: I have trouble with the word ‘super’ and ‘hornet’, perhaps I would call it superdog or superbug, but certainly not a Super Hornet. The sting in the tail is not there.
MARK BANNERMAN: Peter Criss knows a thing or two about fighter planes and aircraft. He flew F 111s for longer than he cares to remember, and by the time he finished in the Air Force he was Air Commander Australia.
PETER CRISS: This thing will not survive in a fight now in our region – now, right now. Not another five years down the track, 10 years down the track. It is a dog.
MARK BANNERMAN: The question is, why is Australia prepared to spend $6 billion to fill a gap in our Air Force capability with a plane that arouses such controversy? Well, the answer can be found in this plane, the F 111. Controversial itself in its early years, the F 111 has been a remarkable aircraft.
AIR COMMODORE TED BUSHELL (RET.): The F 111 was quite capable of going out to 2020 and beyond and still retaining a very real deterrent and strategic strike capability throughout our region.
MARK BANNERMAN: Of course, all good things come to an end and, while the F 111 remains in the air, a replacement has to be found. Five years ago, the Government decided this plane would be their choice for the future. Known as the Joint Strike Fighter or JSF, the F 35 is an impressive bit of machinery.
BRENDAN NELSON: It was quite clear that what the Joint Strike Fighter then offered to Australia in terms of our future air combat capability is precisely the kind of outstanding all round capability in terms of bombing and air to air combat that Australia needs.
MARK BANNERMAN: As late as last year, the Air Force brass were telling anyone who wanted to listen the plan was on schedule.
AIR VICE-MARSHAL JOHN BLACKBURN: We’re confident with the program as is currently progressing we shouldn’t need an interim solution. However, as with most things in Defence, we’re looking at contingency plans.
MARK BANNERMAN: But all that changed just a week ago.
BRENDAN NELSON: The Government will acquire 24 F 18 F Super Hornets.
MARK BANNERMAN: With those few words, Brendan Nelson effectively overturned five years of Air Force planning. The F 111 was out. The Joint Strike Fighter would come in its own good time, and Australia would pay $6 billion to buy a plane that, four months ago, his own top brass said was not needed.
PETER CRISS: I’m very concerned, because from close sources inside the department, I’m being assured that the request for the Super Hornet did not come from the department. So, if it didn’t come from the department, where did it come from? Or what’s driving the agenda?
MARK BANNERMAN: There is an easy answer to that and, today, when the 7.30 Report spoke to Brendan Nelson, he had this to say.
MARK BANNERMAN: I mean, basically all through last year the Air Force was telling the public that there was no need for an interim fighter. What changed?
BRENDAN NELSON: Well, I’m the minister and the Royal Australian Air Force and Defence officials were arguing quite rightly that there is not any gap and, whilst currently there is not any gap, my great concern is that with the ageing of the F 111s, that there will be uncertainty in the political process in the United States and with other partner countries that could potentially delay the delivery of the Joint Strike Fighter.
MARK BANNERMAN: It’s significant the minister was not prepared to accept assurances from the Air Force that F 111s were safe to fly beyond 2010.
BRENDAN NELSON: What would happen if Australia did not acquire this squadron of Super Hornets and we had a wing failure or an engineering failure at 1.5 times the speed of sound at 100 feet above the ground in an F 111 in the year 2011?
MARK BANNERMAN: But if fear is the motivating factor for the minister, there are experts who now believe fear is no substitute for facts. Indeed, they claim the Super Hornet is simply the wrong plane to fill any perceived gap.
TED BUSHELL: It can’t effectively perform the role that the Minister and the Department of Defence has given it.
MARK BANNERMAN: Ted Bushell is a retired Air Commodore with 25 years experience in the RAAF. He’s been in engineering, maintenance and technical planning, and he simply does not believe the claims made about the Super Hornet.
TED BUSHELL: They’ve said the Super Hornet will maintain our air superiority in our region for the next decade. Not a hopping hope in hell of doing that. If it wasn’t so serious, you’d have to laugh at it.
MARK BANNERMAN: The plane’s critics are not confined to Australia. Reputable aviation experts in the United States tested the Super Hornet and had this to say.
REPORT TO THE US SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: “Testing has identified a number of deficiencies, perhaps 100 items of which I believe about 25 to 30 are appropriately considered major deficiencies.”
BRENDAN NELSON: I have absolute confidence that our country will be well and truly protected by our upgraded FA 18s, a squadron of Super Hornets, and that they will also be able to ensure the safety and security of the men and women who will fly it.
MARK BANNERMAN: There the issue might rest. It doesn’t. With the Government committing an extra $6 billion, the critics are now saying, let’s rethink the whole strategy about buying new planes. Ditch the Super Hornet and the Joint Strike Force fighter and buy the top plane available the F-22 Raptor. There is just one problem the minister will hear none of it.
BRENDAN NELSON: The F-22, whilst it is a brilliant air to air combat capability is not the correct aircraft for Australia, would lose stealth capability once we put bombs on it.
TED BUSHELL: I sat down and I thought, “I can’t be hearing properly”. He’s talking about the F-22, which some of the leading USAF generals have said is the best bomber we’ve seen for years.
MARK BANNERMAN: If the Minister for Defence thought he was clearing the decks in an election year by buying a new jet, he finds he’s wrong. Indeed, it now seems he has a major dogfight on his hands.
NB: This transcript has been edited for accuracy.
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