PHIL DOYLE/Sunday Star-Times

AUSSIE AIRPOWER: Five Australian Super Hornet F18 jet fighters at Auckland Airport on route to Austrailia from California. Accompanying them is a DC10 tanker, visible in background.

Aucklanders could get an unexpected air show over the city tomorrow morning as over $325 million worth of Australia's newest jet fighters head for home for the first time.

Five brand new F/A-18F Super Hornets are currently parked at Auckland International Airport having flown across from the manufacturers in California.

Also parked with them is McDonnell Douglas KDC-10 in-flight tanker - a converted DC10 that is operated by a civilian company to service international jet fighters around the world.

Also with the Super Hornets is a giant RAAF C17 Globemaster.

An Auckland Airport spokesman said the jets are scheduled to take-off at around 8.30 am tomorrow.

Flight plans had not been confirmed but it was expected the Super Hornets will form up into a formation before heading across the Tasman Sea.

Unusual plane movements at Auckland Airport in the past have caused major traffic disruptions in the area.

The Super Hornets, Australia's first new air combat aircraft in 25 years will fly into their home base, RAAF Amberley later in the day. They will be met by the aging F111s that they are replacing.

The Super Hornets have a range of 2,000 kilometres and maximum speed of Mach 1.8 or 1,900km/h.

They are a fill in until the the introduction of the new Lockheed F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter is introduced.

Media invited to inspect the planes in California last week were banned from taking photos of the cockpit.

"The Super Hornet has an amazing suite of weapons and incredible sensors," the commanding officer of RAAF's No. 1 Squadron, Wing Commander Glen Braz, told AAP.

"It is amazingly nimble as well."

Commander Braz used an automobile analogy to compare the Super Hornet to other planes.

"The Super Hornet is definitely a Ferrari," he said.

"It is super sleek, nimble and powerful.

"It is definitely not in the (Toyota) Camry spectrum."

Mercedes-Benz delivers nine prototype G-class vehicles to ADF under $130m contract

5 February 2010

By TERRY MARTIN

MERCEDES-BENZ has delivered a fresh batch of prototype purpose-built G-class all-terrain vehicles to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for continued testing and evaluation ahead of the first wave of production models due in 2011.

After handing over two units to the ADF last October at a ceremony at the manufacturer’s plant in Graz, Austria, where the uniquely specified cross-country vehicles are being built, Mercedes-Benz has now made the first ‘local’ deliveries of nine G-class models.

Part of a $350 million deal to supply a 1200-strong tactical fleet under the banner ‘Project Overlander’, the latest batch includes four-wheel drive station wagons, 4WD cab-chassis units, and six-wheel drive units in both single-cab and dual-cab chassis configuration.

As GoAuto has reported, Mercedes-Benz won the contract to supply the ADF in November 2008 after five years of negotiations.

In addition to the supply of vehicles, which is contracted to run until at least 2014, the deal includes a contract for service, parts and support that will run for 15 years, with an option to extend.

Newcastle-based engineering firm Varley will supply a range of specialist ‘transport’ modules to be fitted to many of the vehicles, such as ambulance, command post, personnel carriage and general cargo.

Mercedes-Benz will also provide an armour-kit that can be fitted when required.

In addition to the G-class contract, Mercedes-Benz also supplies and supports the ADF with Unimog cross-country trucks, Actros 8x8 fuel tankers, buses and vans.

The company said it recently participated in the ADF’s trial of medium and heavy trucks, during which the army tested a range of Mercedes-Benz trucks including the latest armoured Unimog, four- and six-wheel variants of the Zetros truck and an armoured 8x8 Actros.

The latter was apparently nicknamed ‘Optimus Prime’ – the animated ‘Transformer’ character – by Canadian soldiers on deployment.

“Mercedes-Benz is confident it can meet all the requirements of the Australian Defence Force with its comprehensive military vehicle range, and its extensive Australian support base,” the company said.

A Royal New Zealand  flight Air Force Boeing 757 has completed a successful maiden trial flight to Antarctica.

The recently upgraded Boeing 757-200 left Christchurch on Wednesday 16 December at 11.30am, arriving at McMurdo Station just before 4.00pm New Zealand time.