The former Howard government and Air Force chiefs ignored advice from defence officials in 2002 against rushing into the Joint Strike Fighter project amid concerns that too little was known about the aircraft's cost and capabilities.
Documents released under Freedom of Information reveal that officials explicitly advised against signing up to the ''system development and demonstration'' phase of the JSF, which has since been beset by delays, technical problems and cost blowouts.
The officials, from the department's Investment Analysis Branch, also recommended that the Howard government keep its options open in choosing Australia's future combat air craft under the ''Air 6000'' program, rather than lock itself into the JSF, otherwise known as the Lockheed Martin F-35.
''An accurate assessment of the F-35's abilities, and thus the cost-effectiveness of the aircraft in meeting Air 6000 requirements, cannot be determined from the limited information provided by the (United States),'' the officials said in written advice dated March 2002.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
March 2002 Docs: Howard, Defence, ignored gov advice not to join risky F-35 program
Then some real journalism appears. Well, more proof of what we know. While the current government may be dumb on Defence, the last one signed us up for billions of bad Defence programs:
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Very interesting article. Disappointing that good sound advice was ignored, again!...Howard was good at ignoring his advisors. Senior Defence officials seem to have been 'blinded' by the JSF hype and marketing at the time. Lack of COMPETENCE, or something else?
How can anyone be so single minded about such important decisions or programs, and not consider, or at least keep other options open.
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