UK defence secretary given a ride from Canberra to Adelaide in Australian military fighter jet
The UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, has caught a ride in the back seat of an Australian air force fighter jet after meeting with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
The visiting dignitary met with Albanese in Canberra on Thursday before being flown to Adelaide in a FA-18 Super Hornet, according to a report by the ABC.
Two of the aircraft, valued at $100m each, took off from Canberra shortly after 7pm, one with Shapps in the back seat.
A spokesperson for the Department of Defence confirmed the flight took place and said it was a good opportunity to show off Australia’s defence capability to a key ally.
“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 said.
“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”.
The trip was a smooth ride compared to an incident that occurred over a week ago when a Royal Air Force plane that was carrying Shapps from Portugal to the UK had its satellite signal jammed, according to a Reuters report.
Shapps is in Australia for annual Australia-UK ministerial consultations, his first visit since picking up the defence portfolio in a ministerial reshuffle by the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
On Friday the Australian government revealed it would seek to prop up the Aukus defence pact by sending $4.6bn to the UK to clear bottlenecks at the Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor production line.
