Here is a good chance to get and see some very early morning take offs from RAAF Amberley of the F/A-18F Super Hornets .
Supers conduct early morning departures out of RAAF Amberley bound for Exercise Cope North
What: 4 x F/A18F Super Hornets and a KC-30 aircraft will deploy to Exercise Cope North
When: Sunday, 7 February 2016, approximately 9am
Where: RAAF Base Amberley, Ipswich
Four F/A18F Super Hornets and a single KC-30 aircraft will departure RAAF Base Amberley on Sunday morning, 7 February, at approximately 9am as part of a deployment to the Cope North training exercise in Guam.
The remaining two Super Hornets will depart on Monday morning, 8 February.
The aircraft are expected to return from Guam during the day on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 February along with a KC-30 each day.
Exercise Cope North aims to cultivate regional ties and seeks to enhance Australia’s air defence interoperability with the defence forces of Japan and the United States of
America.
I think the Australian air force is showing a lot of reislnsabpoity as the USNavy did a decade ago. The combination of MESA/AESA Radars, ATFLIR Sensors and Growlers, and long range intelligent bombs it`s the way of the future, not just the hiper-expensive day one stealth technology of the past decade to pass by over the target. Silent Eagles are Stelth just in frontal view, Super Hornets already have better degree of stealth in the frontal view and some stealth all around, and their live cicle cost it`s much cheaper. The Growlers and SH international road map with extra internal gas will have longer range and combined will be hard to kill even for raptors. Canada should do the same.