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The federal Coalition has pledged to spend $3 billion on 28 fighter jets, aiming to expand the country’s F-35 fleet with a fourth squadron. However, they have not disclosed the source of the funds for this initiative.

This election promise would result in Australia having a total of 100 F-35 jets if the Coalition wins the upcoming election.

The opposition’s home affairs spokesperson, James Paterson, declined to reveal on Sunday whether the $3 billion would represent additional funding or if it would be diverted from the existing Defence budget.

Paterson stated on ABC TV’s Insiders, “I’m not going to announce our costings on your program today, nor am I going to announce our defence policy on your program. This is the first commitment. You will have more to hear from us.”

Paterson indicated, “We’ll be outlining all of our expenses in the campaign as normal, all of our costings, at the normal time, in the normal way. This is a downpayment on our commitment to increased and faster defence spending.”