The Minister for Defence, Christopher Pyne, and the Minister for Defence Industry, Steven Ciobo, were there to welcome the aircraft and RAAF fighter pilots who flew the final leg of the jets’ journey from Luke Air Force Base Arizona to Australia.

Minister Pyne said the JSF will be a game-changer for the Australian Defence Force.

“This is the most advanced, multi-role stealth fighter in the world,” he said. “It will deliver the next generation capability benefits and provide a major boost to our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

“The Joint Strike Fighter can get closer to threats undetected; find, engage and jam electronic signals form targets; and share information with other platforms.”

The Australian Government will spend more than $17 billion to acquire at least 72 JSFs. The first two of those 72 arrived in Williamtown on Monday, December 10.

More JSFs will continue to arrive in Australia slowly, with Defence stating about 30 would be in the country by 2020.

The JSFs will be flown by Australian pilots, and maintained by a joint team of Australian maintenance personnel and industry partners including Lockheed Martin Australia.

Australia has received 10 aircraft to date. The remaining eight are stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona where they are part of the international cooperative F-35A training operations.

The F-35As will be based in Williamtown and RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory.

“The Joint Strike Fighter is the largest acquisition in the history of the Royal Australian Air Force, and is a key part of the government’s $200 billion build up in Defence capability,” Mr Pyne said.

More to come.