Aust.-N.Z. joint deal?

Press, 28 February 1984, Page 6

Aust.-N.Z. joint deal?

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney Australia has almost halved its sAust7o million (S9BM) asking price for redundant Navy Skyhawk fighter-bombers, and is now considering a package put to it by New Zealand, according to officials in Canberra. An Australian Defence Department team was this week getting to work on a list of requirements worked out during a visit to Wellington last week, and is then expected to put a formal

offer to the New Zealanders. But, according to a weekend report, the Royal New Zealand Air Force was considering joining the Australians in buying new multimillion dollar FlB Hornet fighters to eventually replace the ageing Skyhawks. The working life of the Skyhawks is expected to be a maximum of 10 more years, and the “Canberra Times” reported during the week-end that New Zealand could decide to take a dozen or so new Hornets off the end of the production line

being set up in Sydney to build at least 73’ of the fighters for the R.A.A.F. According to the newspaper the R.N.Z.A.F. had flown the Hornet in the United States and reported on it favourably to the New Zealand Government. Such an order from across the Tasman would lower the unit cost for both nations, but the deal would be sealed only if some sort of “collaborative understanding” could be arrived at. In the meantime. NewZealand wants more Skyhawks to supplement its own ageing aircraft, and sees the well-maintained Australian aircraft as ideal. From the time New Zealand rejected the overpriced Australian deal last year, there has been a dialogue by letter on the subject.