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The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is Australia's air force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force.

The RAAF began in March 1914 as the Australian Flying Corps and became a fully independent air force in March 1921.

1 Current Equipment

• 71 F/A-18 Hornet fighters, built in Australia under license from McDonnell Douglas. The F/A-18 fleet has been the subject of various upgrades since it entered service in the 1980s and remains capable, but fatigue issues may mean that it will not remain a viable front-line air defence option until the planned retirement date of 2015.

• 35 General Dynamics F-111 bombers, a mixture of the original long-range F-111C type, RF-111 reconnaissance variants, and ex-USAF F-111G attrition replacements.

• 20 Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion maritime patrol and strike aircraft.

• 24 Lockheed Martin C-130H and C-130J Hercules transports.

• 14 de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou tactical transports.

• 33 BAe Hawk lead-in trainers.

• 67 Pilatus PC-9The Pilatus PC-9 is a single-engine, low-wing tandem-seat turboprop training aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Development The PC-9 can be viewed as a further, more powerful, evolution of the earlier PC-7. It retains the overall la advanced trainers.

• 50 PAC CT/4 basic trainers - better known as the "Plastic Parrot".

• 5 Boeing 707The Boeing 707 is a four engined commercial passenger jet aircraft developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Although it was not the first commercial jetliner in service (that distinction belongs to the De Havilland Comet), it was the first one to be commers: four are dual role tanker/transports, one a pure transport. Because of the electoral cost of spending public funds on new VIP transports for politicians, the 707 fleet remained on VIP duties long after the high ongoing maintenance costs made it uneconomic. At one stage, Australian ambassadors had to make a practice of requesting special waivers of the usual aircraft noise regulations from foreign governments prior to official visits. Since the long-term lease of two Boeing 737The Boeing 737 is a popular short-to-medium range commercial passenger jet aircraft continuously manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes since 1967. Over 5,000 have been sold since its introduction in 1967, more than any other commercial airliner, ands, the elderly 707s are now used for military purposes only.

• 3 Bombardier Challenger 604 VIP transports.

• 2 Boeing BBJBoeing Business Jet The Boeing Business Jet series are factory conversions of the Boeing 737 airliners for corporate or private usage. The BBJ is based upon the 737-700, and the BBJ2 is based upon the 737-800. This aircraft usually seats between 25 and 50 VIP transports.

2 Future Equipment

This list include aircraft on order or a requirement which has been identified.

• Lockheed Martin F-35AThe F-35 Joint Strike Fighter JSF is a fighter plane currently in early development by Lockheed Martin (with partners Northrop Grumman and BAE SYSTEMS. The primary customers are the United States armed forces and the United Kingdom ( RN and RAF), but the Joint Strike Fighter ( CTOLConventional Take-off and Landing is the process whereby conventional aircraft (such as passenger aircraft) take off and land, involving the use of runways. The aircraft will taxi along the runway until its rotation speed is reached, then climb into the a variant)
• 6 Boeing Project Wedgetail AEW&CAn Airborne Early Warning (AEW) system is a radar system carried by an aircraft which is designed to detect other aircraft. Used at a high altitude, the radars allow the operators to distinguish between friendly and hostile aircraft hundreds of miles away aircraft, with the option for 1 more.
• 22 Eurocopter Tiger ARHs
• 5 Airbus A330 MRTTs - to replace the ageing 707s in aerial refueling and strategic transport roles.
• Strategic transport - An aircraft in either the Airbus A400M or Boeing C-17 Globemaster III classes is required to improve strategic airlift capabilites.
• Maritime patrol aircraft to replace AP-3C Orions

In June 2002 the Australian government shocked competitors in its Air 6000 fighter competition when it cancelled the programme and committed to the JSF. Eurofighter International were offering their Typhoon and Dassault their Rafale to replace the RAAF's F-111s and eventually the F/A-18s. The losing competitors argued that potential participation in the manufacture of their aircraft would far exceed any workshare in the JSF project. Recently however Australia has been pushing to be the site for a Pacific/Asian service centre for the F-35 to offer in-service support. 100 JSFs are expected in 2012.