Air Marshal Mark Binskin, head of the Royal Australian Air Force, maintains that his country must buy 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters even as budget strings tighten to sustain 24-hour operations in the even of a high-threat, reports The Australian. “No matter how you model it, the modeling keeps coming back to 100,” Binskin said at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Like the US Air Force, the RAAF has been struggling with aging aircraft maintenance problems and expects the F-35 to replace F-111s, that it will start retiring in 2011, and, later, F/A-18s. Earlier this year, Australian officials said they planned to seek approval to buy F-22 Raptors, as well.
A recent seven-day exercise sent Air Force F-22s—along with other USAF aircraft—to austere, challenging environments across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Agile Reaper, taking place for the second time after its inaugural edition last year, featured 800 Airmen and 29 aircraft across five different locations from April 10-16, training…