I made that suggestion precisely for the reasons you outline.
Our somewhat Neanderthal level of technology development and manufacturing would be seriously challenged to say the least by designing and building a state of the art aircraft. The Swedes seem able to manage it with a similar population, though I concede that their proportion of beer swilling yobbos is probably significantly less.

we build our own.

Ahem. I’m going to take two approaches to this suggestion, stoka, first mocking, then serious.
One (mocking). Build our own? At the Camry plant in SA (that’s eventually going to close down when Federal subsidy runs out), or the Ford plant in Geelong (ditto)? Which major Australian manufacturing base did you have in mind—the same ones that built the P76 and Lightburn Zephyr? Australian weapons manufacturing hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory in the past: there was a decent if obsolete trainer in the Wirraway, but then again there was the Nomad, which put the f in fugly. True, in the forties we did manufacture decent Bren guns in the small-arms factory in Lithgow: a design licenced from a British firm who bought it from the Czechs, before the plant was occupied by the Germans, and before they sold the design to the Nationalist Chinese as well. Hooray for Aussie ingenuity!
As jets go, most of the airlines are desperately trying to get their maintenance operations offshore to Singapore or Malaysia, a telling comment about Australian engineering.
Two (serious). A home-grown design bureau for UAVs and long-range cruise missiles is something Russell Square should be looking at.
Our needs are quite different from those of the other UAV producers. The USA like theirs to be infinitely deployable anywhere, which doesn’t really apply to us, the Israelis like theirs to be small, fast, and short-range to avoid Palestinian 9mm anti-aircraft pistols, and the Europeans’ seem to be designed like Vespas: perfect for blasting around cobbled streets, shouting and gesticulating, but not much chop anywhere else. An Australian UAV is yet to be produced.
As for cruise: way of the future. That’s all I need to say about that.

I should point out though from bitter experience, there’s no way I’m gonna fit a ‘liberated’ 500lbd JDAM mockup into the boot or back seat of my mate’s Puegeot. Do you a nice line in glossy brochures and cheesy caps though squire.

At the birth of the F-35 Lightning II, however, the standard for a fighter model should have been increased greatly. The multiple capabilities are an advancement to the technology of the modernly used fighter planes. a new beginning area to the newly designed planes should be centered around stealth capabilites, payload, and range.

I suspect mike, you were cutting and pasting in somewhat the wrong order there. Also the JSF is a single engined, v. high maintence piece of machinery. Perhaps not the best thing for defending airspace over an enormous, dusty and thinly staffed and resourced frontier.

Been ambling around the Australian International Airshow today, and will again tomorrow, and want to definitely reconfirm a point I’ve made before here about this overall issue.

THE SUPER HORNET IS THE LOUDEST AIRCRAFT, (OR INDEED ANYTHING) I HAVE EVER HEARD.

And I’ve heard a lot of planes in my time, live near the Melbourne F1 track and once stood next to the PA during a Sonic Youth gig.

But that plane. Standing by the runway when it takes off, you have to check every one of your bodily openings for involuntary fluid leakage. Never mind it’s “stealthy” intakes, I bet you would just hear 1000k out the bloody thing running into Jakarta. Or Wellington.

Nothing at all stealthy about that bumptious bumped-up hot rod. It’s basically a regular hornet on steriods. Slower, larger, capable of carrying more bomby thingies and apparently more serviceable. But it’s still basically the aerial equivilent of an up-armoured hummer with a tweaked motor.

Now cruise missiles stashed on the Sydney to Hobart yacht fleet. That’s the way to go. New Zealand will never see that one coming.