In Australian military and aviation circles, the F-111 Aardvark was affectionately known as the "Pig", due to its long snout and terrain-following ability.

[5] The aircraft went through modernization programs in the 1980s and 1990s, and the RAAF acquired improved weapons to maintain their ability to penetrate hostile airspace.

[6] On 14 February 1961, newly appointed United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara formally directed that the services study the development of a single aircraft that would satisfy both requirements.

[17] The Menzies government first publicly discussed the need for replacing the English Electric Canberra in 1954, only a year after the RAAF began receiving the bomber.

Air Staff Requirement 36 that year mandated an all-weather attack aircraft by 1959 capable of delivering a variety of bombs and missiles.

[20] Although in mid-1962 the Menzies government again decided to not replace the Canberra, Indonesia's increasingly aggressive statements regarding Malaysia soon caused Australia to reevaluate the decision.

[21] The Sydney Morning Herald reported in October 1962 that the Indonesian Air Force's Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 bombers could reach Sydney or any other Australian city with a light bomb load, while the Canberras could not fly in all weather and had a range of 900 miles (1,400 km), insufficient to reach Jakarta.

The government denied that the Tu-16 could reach Sydney,[22] but Minister for Air Frederick Osborne acknowledged that the Canberras were "the weakest link in our armory at the present moment".

[22] Early candidates were the French Dassault Mirage IV, the TSR-2, and the U.S. North American A-5 Vigilante, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and the TFX.

[17][23] From June to August, Hancock's team visited France, Britain and the United States to evaluate the competitors, and determined that the TFX would be the aircraft best suited for the role.

As he did not expect TFX to be available before 1970, however, Hancock recommended buying 36 A-5 aircraft for A£88 million to counteract the perceived imminent threat from Indonesia.

[26] The British and American governments competed on behalf of their nations' unbuilt bombers, as both believed that export sales would increase domestic support for the aircraft.

The Menzies government viewed the British promise to deploy a squadron of V bombers in Australia for interim defense until the TSR-2 was ready as unacceptable for both technical and political reasons.

Beyond its cost, the Royal Air Force had not ordered the TSR-2; the Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Louis Mountbatten, who opposed it, advised the Australians against buying the aircraft and the RAAF feared being the only customer.

The government's announcement, and the consequent improvement of its chances against Labor, likely also benefited the United States; the purchase helped rebut American critics of the TFX,[20] and the Kennedy administration preferred Menzies' defense policies to the opposition's.

[20] The immensely complex and ambitious F-111 design and construction process forced the Australian government to quickly adopt sophisticated American procurement and project management methods.

[35] The first F-111C was officially delivered in 1968,[36] finally giving Australia an aircraft that could fly to Jakarta, drop bombs, and return without refueling.

(The RAAF only acquired air-to-air refueling for the F/A-18, possibly to avoid causing difficulties with other Asian countries by increasing the F-111C's already great range.)

As a result, a decision was made in May 2002 to replace the wings with spares taken from ex-USAF F-111Fs stored at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC).

[54][55] The F-111C was equipped to carry the AN/AVQ-26 Pave Tack targeting system on a rotating carriage that kept the pod protected within the weapons bay when not in use.

[60] On 31 March, the RAAF Washington Flying Unit was formed at McClellan Air Force Base in California with the mission of ferrying the first 12 F-111Cs to Australia.

[64] Aviation historian Alan Stephens has written that they were "the preeminent weapons system in the Asia-Pacific region" throughout their service and provided Australia with "a genuine, independent strike capability".

Due to the small size of the RF-111 force, the loss of any of these aircraft in combat would have inflicted a heavy blow on Australia's reconnaissance capability.

[68] As a result, the F-111Cs' contribution to the war was limited to conducting intensive exercises with the Naval ships as they sailed through Australian waters en route to the Persian Gulf.

6 Squadrons were deployed to RAAF Base Tindal, Northern Territory, on 28 August to support the international forces, and remained there until 17 December 1999.

From 20 September, when INTERFET began to arrive in East Timor, the F-111s were maintained at a high level of readiness to conduct reconnaissance flights or air strikes if the situation deteriorated.

The use of an RAAF aircraft to "spy" on its own territory led to the minister responsible, Senator Gareth Evans, earning the nickname "Biggles" (after the famous hero pilot of a number of books by Captain W. E.

The health issues with chemical exposure included permanent brain damage to a number of ground crew before conditions were improved.

Although strongly discouraged by the USAF, the RAAF F-111Cs frequently did these "Dump & Burn" maneuvers (also known as the "Zippo" and the "Torch") starting at Maple Flag in the 1980s.

After four months of test flights, the aircraft returned to Australia in August 1979 where it conducted further tropical weather trials at Darwin.