Australien — F/A‑18 Classic Hornet Centre Barrel Replacement Program Completion

Min­is­ter for Defence Materiel and Sci­ence, Greg Com­bet, announced yes­ter­day the com­ple­tion of a major phase of the F/A‑18 Clas­sic Hor­net Upgrade Pro­gram.

Under con­tract to the Defence Materiel Organ­i­sa­tion (DMO), L‑3 Com­mu­ni­ca­tions MAS Cana­da and BAE Sys­tems Aus­tralia have com­plet­ed the F/A‑18 Clas­sic Hor­net fleet Cen­tre Bar­rel Replace­ment Program.

Under Phase 3.2 of the Clas­sic Hor­net Upgrade pro­gram select Clas­sic Hor­net air­craft were iden­ti­fied as requir­ing replace­ment of the cen­tre barrel. 

The cen­tre bar­rel is the major struc­tur­al ele­ment of the air­craft fuse­lage to which the wings and main under­car­riage are attached.

“I am pleased to announce the suc­cess­ful com­ple­tion of the Clas­sic Hor­net Cen­tre Bar­rel Replace­ment Pro­gram,” said Mr Combet. 

“The com­ple­tion of this pro­gram will ensure that the Hor­net fleet safe­ly achieves the planned with­draw­al date of 2020,” said Mr Combet.

“The suc­cess of this pro­gram is a reflec­tion of the strong rela­tion­ships formed between the DMO and its’ Indus­try Part­ners, in deliv­er­ing qual­i­ty prod­ucts to the Defence Services.”

Media con­tacts:
Rod Hilton (Greg Com­bet): 02 6277 7620 or 0458 276 619
Defence Media Liai­son: 02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia