Air Power Australia

Air Power Australia is a private non-profit Australian think tank. It was formed by Dr Carlo Kopp and Peter Goon in October 2004. The stated primary aim of the organisation is 'air power research and analysis, especially in the context of a modern integrated joint national force structure.' Air Power Australia is not affiliated with the Department of Defence, the Australian Defence Force or any other Australian Commonwealth government organisation.

Air Power Australia has been a persistent contributor in recent years to the Australian parliamentary and public defence debate, and has written numerous submissions to a range of federal parliamentary inquiries. Many of these submissions have been dismissed, however, with other defence officials and defence academics maintaining conclusions at significant variance with APA's submissions. The report of the Defence Sub-committee in its "Inquiry into Australian Defence Force Regional Air Superiority", in particular, had multiple occasions to question conclusions reached by Dr Kopp and Mr Goon in their submissions on behalf of APA. Specifically these conclusions included threat perceptions of India and China, the viability of transferring funding from the RAAF HUG program to a life extension program for the F-111, the technical issues associated with maintaining the aging F-111 fleet and the likely costs associated with an F-22 purchase.

Air Power Australia has criticised the acquisition of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and interim fighter aircraft (F-18E/F), and has advocated acquisition of the F-22 Raptor (despite the current impossibility of this due to a US Congressional export ban under the "Obey" Amendment), retention of the F-111 (despite a lack of current and medium term capacity to properly escort such an aircraft operationally to maximise the benefits of the platform's range), acquisition of additional aerial refueling and heavy lift aircraft, and additional ISTAR platforms for the Royal Australian Air Force. The Register published an article critical of Air Power Australia's analysis of the F-35, claiming Kopp is not highly qualified on stealth technology, overstates the potentcy of Russian-armed air forces, and points out that many experienced air forces with access to classified information, such as the Israeli Air Force, wish to purchase the F-35.

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