In 1999 the Australian Department of Defence established the New Air Combat Capability (NACC) Project to investigate aircraft options to replace Air Force’s current fleets of F-111 and F/A-18A/B Hornet aircraft.

In 2002, after having reviewed the full range of combat aircraft available, Australia was the eighth (and last) country to join the US in the development and demonstration phase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program.

In 2006, the Government joined the next phase of the JSF Program, focused on aircraft production.

The 2009 Defence White Paper, which sets out the Australian Government’s plans for Defence for the next few years and how it will achieve those plans, confirmed that Australia will acquire around 100 JSF, as well as supporting systems and weapons, to become the core of Australia’s future air combat, capability subject to Government second-pass approval of the NACC project.

The NACC project will be Australia’s largest single defence acquisition project to date.