Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question relates to the capability of the joint strike fighter. The American Director of Operational Test and Evaluation's report of December 2012 shows that the JSF is more vulnerable to damage than current fighters, thus not meeting its operational requirements document; it shows that the aircraft has significant weight issues and is within 273 pounds of having reached a weight that will impact on performance; and it shows that the aircraft is unable to achieve its acceleration and turn performance thresholds, as predicted by critics but rejected previously by Defence and Lockheed Martin. Given these clear shortcomings of the aircraft, and the facts that the cost has blown out and that the aircraft will achieve its initial operational capability only in 2020 at the earliest and will be overmatched by stealth fighters coming out of Russia and China, why won't the government put the project on hold, put a request for proposal out to tender and hold a competition to find the best contender?

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