Would the acquisition of the JSFs make Australia a more useful ally to the US and enable Australia to support US troops during overseas deployments?
There is no doubt that the JSF will be compatible with US expeditionary forces deployed on the global stage. However, the US will have no shortage of its own JSFs to perform the battlefield strike and close air support roles the JSF is being designed to excel in, so any Australian JSFs so deployed would simply add a burden to US aerial refuelling demands for little additional return in combat effect. Australia would provide a far more valuable contribution to such coalition campaigns were it to deploy types of assets which are in short supply in the US force structure. The best examples are top tier fighter bombers, which are far more flexible than smaller strike fighters like the JSF, but also require much less aerial refuelling support to be effective. Were Australia to operate the F-22A Raptor and upgraded F-111s, it could offer the US much more punch, without the cost of additional aerial refuelling support, which the JSF (and F/A-18A) demand.
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