“Do you realize the Australians have a bomber that can put a bomb through that window onto the table here in front of us?” Former Indonesian defense minister Benny Murdani speaking about RAAF F-111C.
The F-111, with its variable-sweep wing, terrain-following radar, military-grade afterburning turbofan engines, and self-contained escape module, was among the most technically advanced military aircraft designs.
The F-111C, nicknamed “Pig” for its long nose and terrain-following capability, was an F-111 Aardvark medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft variant developed by General Dynamics to meet Australian requirements. Based on the F-111A, it featured longer wings and a reinforced undercarriage. Australia ordered 24 F-111Cs for the Royal Australian Air Force in 1963, but technical problems delayed delivery until 1973.
Nevertheless, once it entered service, the F-111 proved extremely successful. It was the fastest combat aircraft in Southeast Asia with the longest range. Aviation historian Alan Stephens wrote that they were “the preeminent weapons system in the Asia-Pacific region” throughout their service and gave Australia “a genuine, independent strike capability.” Stewart Wilson, in his book Lincoln, Canberra and F-111 in Australian Service, described the F-111C as “an unqualified success…, providing Australia with a potent strike capability in an aircraft which, a quarter of a century after its first flight, remains second to none.” Former Indonesian defense minister Benny Murdani told his counterpart Kim Beazley that when others became upset with Australia during cabinet meetings, Murdani told them, “Do you realize the Australians have a bomber that can put a bomb through that window onto the table here in front of us?”
During 1979 and 1980, four of these aircraft were converted into the RF-111C reconnaissance version. In 1982, Australia bought four former United States Air Force F-111As and upgraded them to F-111C standard to replace aircraft lost in accidents. Australia also operated 15 F-111Gs from 1993 to 2007, mainly as training aircraft.
As Peter E Davies explains in F-111 & EF-111 Units in Combat, RAAF F-111s took part in many Red Flag and Pacific exercises, including Pitch Black, but they also operated in a potentially hostile environment. In 1999, amid unrest in East Timor and rising tensions with Indonesia, F-111Cs and RF-111Cs were deployed to the “bare base” at Tindal in the Northern Territory as part of No. 95 Contingency Strike Wing. Opened in 1989 to replace RAAF Darwin, Tindal was one of several forward operating bases for strike aircraft. East Timor had come under Indonesian control in 1975 after Portugal ended its colonial rule, and resistance to Indonesian rule ended in 1999 with a UN-backed agreement granting East Timor independence.
The RAAF supported the UN-authorized, Australian-led International Force for East Timor (INTERFET), which was deployed in September 1999 to restore order. Australia had originally bought F-111s in response to Indonesia’s expansionist ambitions and the threats they posed to Malaysia and Singapore. National security required a long-range strike aircraft to meet that challenge.
The Australian government formally asked Indonesia’s leaders to permit the RAAF to conduct reconnaissance flights over the area. In reply, the Indonesian military warned that it would shoot down any F-111s that tried to overfly East Timor. At Tindal, as many as ten F-111Cs were kept on alert with LGBs available should strikes be needed in support of INTERFET. The aircraft were prepared for a 1,000-mile, four-jet mission carrying 16,000 lbs of LGBs, which could have been used to target Indonesian communications centres in East Timor if required.
By the end of October 1999, the Indonesian Army had abandoned its claim to the disputed territory and pulled out of East Timor. Two RF-111Cs began reconnaissance flights on 6 November and continued until 9 December, staying clear of Indonesia while gathering valuable photographs that helped improve East Timor’s road network.
In March 2006, four Amberley-based F-111s were tasked with sinking the Pong Su, a 3,500-ton North Korean freighter that had been used to smuggle 150 kilograms of heroin into Australia in 2003. Armed with two 2,000-lb GBU-10 LGBs, they sent the drifting ship to the seabed, underscoring one of the aircraft’s main roles as an anti-shipping strike platform.
Despite the F-111’s strong service record, the Australian government chose to retire the aircraft in 2010, a decade earlier than planned, even after spending heavily on spare airframes and parts to keep the fleet operating for another ten years. One reason was legal action over health concerns linked to the “deseal/reseal” chemical process used to replace the rubber lining in the aircraft’s internal fuel tanks. The F-111 also faced long-standing opposition dating back to its troubled, delayed entry into RAAF service 40 years earlier.
F-111 & EF-111 Units in Combat is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by Wal Nelowkin and Nick Dowling via Wikipedia
