RAAF BASE WILLIAMTOWN and NEWCASTLE, Australia (BulgarianMilitary.com) – Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Williamtown yesterday (9th December 2018) welcomed home Australia’s first two locally-based F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters, learned BulgarianMilitary.com

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The event marks the dawn of a new era for the nation’s defence capabilities as reported from Lockheed Martin.

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Chief Executive of Lockheed Martin Australia, Vince Di Pietro AM, CSC, commented, “The arrival of the first F-35 aircraft to be permanently based in Australia is a historic occasion and we are proud of our role as the 5th Generation design pioneer and F-35 original equipment manufacturer,” and added, “We congratulate the RAAF, the ADF and all of our Australian industry partners who have worked to make this achievement a reality.”

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The 5th Generation F-35 is the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter in the world thanks to its advanced weapons capacity and superior range.

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Australian suppliers have an important role in the F-35 program. More than fifty Australian companies contribute to that global program of record of more than 3,000 aircraft. As of the moment, the F-35 program has provided more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs and more than $1.3 billion AUD in contracts for the Australian industry.

“Flown by Australian pilots, maintained by Australian maintenance personnel and containing many best-of-breed advanced components made right here in Australia, all Australians have every reason to be proud of this achievement. Australia plays a significant role in the program with a suite of local industrial technology and know-how behind the hundreds of F-35s flying today, as well as the thousands of F-35s that will be produced in the future,” Di Pietro also said.

Presently, ten nations are operating F-35s. Now Australia becomes the 7th nation with F-35 aircraft, which is based locally after the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Israel and Japan.

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Source: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company