FED:Two more Super Hornets touch down

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2011
FED:Two more Super Hornets touch down

CANBERRA, Aug 4 AAP - Two more Boeing Super Hornets have touched down at RAAF Base
Amberley in Queensland.

Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare said 20 Super Hornets had now reached Australia
from the US with four still to be delivered.

Mr Clare said the first 15 Australian Super Hornets became operational last December,
giving the RAAF an advanced bomber capability following the retirement of the F-111.

He said the Super Hornet gave the RAAF the capability to conduct air-to-air combat,
to strike targets on land and at sea, to suppress enemy air defences and conduct reconnaissance
missions.

"The Super Hornet is one of the best fighter planes in the world," he said in a statement.

"It has an advanced multi-mode AESA (actively electronically scanned array) radar and
low observability characteristics that make it significantly better than any fourth generation
fighter."

Mr Clare said Super Hornets also had off-the-shelf proven capability, flown by the
US Navy since 2001 and operated in Iraq, Afghanistan and most recently in Libya.

AAP mb/jnb

KEYWORD: HORNETS

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