The UK's visiting defence secretary has hitched a ride on a $100 million Royal Australian Air Force fighter jet to get between official meetings in Canberra and Adelaide.
The ABC can reveal that after meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Thursday evening, the senior Conservative Party politician flew to Adelaide in the back seat of an RAAF Super Hornet.
Grant Shapps is in the country for the annual Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations, or AUKMIN — his first visit to Australia since taking the role in a ministerial reshuffle by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Senior sources have told the ABC the proposal was first floated a short while ago, with the defence secretary going through security briefings before being cleared to fly in the FA/18 Super Hornet from defence establishment Fairbairn in Canberra to Adelaide.
"He certainly enjoyed the experience, it's not something many people ever get to do," one defence official told the ABC.
In a statement the Department of Defence said it was "delighted" to offer the fast jet experience to one of Australia's key defence partners — demonstrating an important element of this country's military capability.
"The flight was part of a demonstration of an important element of Australia's defence capability, to one of our key defence partners," a defence spokesperson told the ABC.
"As the Royal Air Force do not operate the F/A-18F Super Hornet, it was selected to demonstrate one component of Australia's air combat capability".
Plane spotters in the nation's capital captured vision of the ride as a pair of super hornets, took off from Canberra shortly after 7pm, on a day when Mr Shapps also attended a last post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial.
The runway is shared with the Canberra airport, providing an interesting spectacle to passengers fleeing Canberra after a week of parliamentary sittings.
When flying commercially, the flight time for the 1,000-kilometre journey between Canberra and Adelaide is roughly one and a half to two hours.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDI0LTAzLTIzL2JyaXRpc2gtZGVmZW5jZS1zZWNyZXRhcnktaGl0Y2hlcy1yaWRlLXRvLWFkZWxhaWRlLW9uLXJhYWYtamV0LzEwMzYyMjQ3MtIBKGh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMDM2MjI0NzI?oc=5
2024-03-22 18:43:56Z
CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDI0LTAzLTIzL2JyaXRpc2gtZGVmZW5jZS1zZWNyZXRhcnktaGl0Y2hlcy1yaWRlLXRvLWFkZWxhaWRlLW9uLXJhYWYtamV0LzEwMzYyMjQ3MtIBKGh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMDM2MjI0NzI
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