Royal Australian Air Force

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the air force branch 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. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th centuries major conflicts including both World Wars, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. More recently the RAAF participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Current strength

As of 2005, the following aircraft are operated by the RAAF:

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• 71 F/A-18 Hornet fighters, built in Australia under licence 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-9 advanced trainers.
• 50 PAC CT/4 basic trainers - better known as the "Plastic Parrot", owned and operated by BAe Systems.
• 5 Boeing 707s: 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 737s, the elderly 707s are now used for military purposes only.
• 3 Bombardier Challenger 604 VIP transports.
• 2 Boeing BBJ 737 VIP transports.