Australia has canceled, or rather paused, its planned purchase of a fourth squadron of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jets. The country has received all 72 F-35s it committed to, against a program of record for 100 aircraft, with the final jet arriving in December 2024. That makes Australia the largest export customer for the F-35 in the world, ahead of the United Kingdom, which has received around 44 of its 48 contracted examples.
In April 2024, Australian Aviation reported that the federal government had put on hold plans to buy a fourth squadron of F-35s and would instead redirect some of that investment towards long-range missiles. The decision followed a plan to upgrade the existing Super Hornet fleet and keep it flying into the 2040s, rather than retiring it by around 2027 as previously intended. Australia now operates three F-35 squadrons alongside 24 F/A-18 Super Hornets and 12 EA-18G Growlers.
Australian Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy gave two main reasons for keeping the Super Hornets and delaying the fourth F-35 squadron. One was that the Super Hornets were "doing great work." The second, he said, was that the "Joint Strike Fighter [F-35] is even more capable than we initially thought." The door remains open: in March 2025, the Coalition pledged to acquire more F-35s to reach 100 aircraft if it won the federal election, but it lost, and the Labor Government returned to power. Australia announced in 2025 that it was actively exploring involvement in the Tempest/GCAP sixth-generation program, scheduled to enter service in 2035 and seen as a potential replacement for its Super Hornets.
