Why is Australia the only country in the world to be still flying F-111s?
The United States Air Force and the RAAF were the only two services to ever operate the F-111, as the UK cancelled its order during the 1960s. The US intended to operate their F-111s past 2015 and to that effect initiated an ambitious series of upgrades during the late 1980s and early 1990s. A project to retrofit the modern GE F110 engine, common to the F-16C and F-14D, was also initiated. The collapse of the Soviet Union however forced the largest downsizing of the US Air Force since the end of WW2, and the F-111 fell victim to this, as only the newest fighter types (F-15/F-16) were retained in service – were the F-111 retained, the production lines for the F-15E and F-16C would have closed early. Unlike Australia the US has an imperative to maintain its industrial base. The US Air Force operated the F-111F until 1996, but intended to retain the EF-111A Raven much longer. The latter was however retired in 1999 after a long running argument over whether its jamming mission should be re
