Spies In The Mud: The RF-111 Aardvark

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30 Sept 2025

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Overlooked by the USAF as a spyplane, the RF-111 would be the premier Cold War reconnaissance platform in the Asia-Pacific region

With the U-2 and SR-71 on its books, the United States Air Force wasn’t exactly lacking for a capable reconnaissance platform. However, some fast jet platforms were more valuable than others. In fact, in the 1980s, if you didn’t have a spy satellite capability, then it’s fair to say that fast jet platforms were one of the best options for gathering time-critical intelligence. If you were from a Warsaw Pact nation, the best option available would be the MiG-25, while in the West, the RF-4 Phantom and the F-111 Aardvark would be on the menu.

In today’s article, we’ll be taking a look at the F-111 platform, exploring its features and looking at the key role it would play in Australia during the Cold War. Let’s go!

Development

Developed in an era where the computers were much simpler but the planes remained complex, the Aardvark was designed to be a high-tech beast. Sporting variable geometry wings like the F-14 Tomcat, the F-111 was also fitted with 2 TF-30 engines that would allow it to achieve speeds of up to Mach 2.5, as well as a cutting-edge avionics suite that included the AN/APQ-110 Radar system, which included a terrain following (TFR) feature.

This would be a key tool in the Aardvark’s arsenal as it would enable the F-111 to fly at supersonic speeds in all conditions. The TFR was able to be set to hard, medium or soft rides and included multiple redundancies, which included a harsh 3.5G pull-up as a fail-safe mode.
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The F-111 could accept a pallet packed with recon cameras for observation missions, similar to the F-14’s TARPS pod. Here’s an RAAF F-111C fitted with the system. Source: Wikipedia.

Designed as a multi-role platform, the Aardvark had the capacity to accept wing-mounted weapons however, it also included a large weapons bay. This would be dual-use as the bay was also designed to accept reconnaissance equipment.

Using a palletised system, the aircraft was able to carry the KA-56 Panoramic camera for wide-angle shots, the KA-96 long-focal camera for stand-off distances, as well as the KS-87 medium aspect camera for everything in between.

It was also able to carry an assortment of Infrared cameras and sensors, as well as an interesting device called a Sideways Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR). This allowed the aircraft to fly along the borders of nation-states using the SLAR to look deep inside enemy territory.

Despite this, all was not smooth for the Aardvarks' introduction to service. After structural issues with the aircraft’s wing carry-through box, all aircraft would require remediation. This would mean that the RAAF's initial order of 24 aircraft would spend a number of years in storage while the problem was rectified.

By the time March 1973 had rolled around, the Aardvark was ready for its introduction to service.

The RAAF would be the most prolific user of the F-111 over the years. Here’s three on the flightline at Darwin during Operation Pitch Black ’84. Source: Wikipedia.

The Golden Years

Once the teething issues were rectified, the aircraft was accepted into service and… it was, for the most part, an immediate hit. Thanks to its generous performance, the Aardvark would be endowed with more range, more performance and more payload carrying ability than the previous tactical jets that the Australians were used to.

This meant that for some time, in the Asia Pacific, the F-111 would literally be without an equal.
Part of the reason for this success would be the flight profile that the aircraft was able to achieve. Designed from the outset as a high-speed, low-altitude, penetration bomber, meant that overall, countering the F-111 was quite difficult. This was because it could use the TF-30 engines to enter the target area at high speed, while the terrain-following radar system meant that the aircraft was able to do so at what was effectively treetop height.

The best part of this is that for the first time, weather becomes less of an issue. Thanks to this advanced sensor package, the Aardvark was able to operate in rain, hail or sunshine.

And operate it did. For the RAAF, the F-111 would be a key part of its force projection strategy, and as such, it would travel the globe, being seen at Operation Red Flag and other notable Western events.

The Aardvark would come dangerously close to being used in support of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET). Despite this, it wouldn’t fire a warshot until the Pong Su incident. Source: Wikipedia.

Like the British pilots in their Blackburn Buccaneers, the RAAF would quickly gain a reputation for using the PaveTack sensor suite for devastatingly accurate, laser-guided bombing runs, while the terrain following radar ensured that the crew could both enter and egress the target area at high speed while minimising the chance of detection. While it was by no means a stealth aircraft, when flown properly, the F-111 was a difficult target to intercept and subsequently shoot down.

Interestingly enough, on the 17th of January 1991, an electronic warfare variant of the F-111 known as the EF-111 Raven would be involved in an incident that would send it straight to the history books.

Airframe number 66–016, using the call Raven-41, would be on a mission when it would be observed and subsequently chased by an Iraqi Mirage F-1. Rather than engage the aircraft directly, the crew elected to egress the area low and fast however, while doing so, the Mirage would fly into terrain. This would grant Raven-41 a manouvre kill, giving the F-111 its only combat kill during its service life.

East Timor

While the aircraft would have acceptable performance, as the years rolled on, for the Australians, the aircraft had still never been used in anger. A mid-life upgrade occurring in the late 80s meant that yet again, the aircraft was packed full of cutting-edge technology, while its participation in the Gulf War on the American side morphed it into a battle-proven fighter.

For the Aussies who had been tasked with International Force East Timor (INTERFET), the Aardvark would play a unique role. Not only would its unique reconnaissance abilities be pretty helpful during the crisis, but the ability of the platform to drop Laser-Guided bombs with pinpoint accuracy would provide a significant deterrent against further escalation.

Armed F-111s would undertake long-range flights against the border while a strategic reserve of aircraft would wait on the tarmac at RAAF Tindal as a quick reaction force should it be needed.

While there were no combat missions undertaken, the Aardvark’s utility as a reconnaissance platform ensured that militia movements and the identification of enemy assets was able to be monitored and, if required, responded to.

INTERFET would make history as one of the final, global operations that the F-111 would be involved with, while more importantly, it would help to highlight the utility that dual-use attack & recon platforms could bring to the table.

The F-111 would be retired with no equal peers. While the Super Hornet was good, it was no match for the Aardvark. Source: Wikipedia

There’s Only One

As the F-111 had been born in the 70’s, as INTERFET came to a close, the realisation was that it was time to look at a replacement was slowly accepted. The only problem with that was that, over time, aviation had changed significantly.

The end of the Cold War Mk 1 had left the world with a “peace dividend”, and as such, the pool of available aircraft to provide options around a replacement was more than a little thin.

The dump and burn would become a familiar sight at Australian Airshows. Source: Wikipedia.

The problem was the type of platforms that were available. While the F-16, F/A-18 and the Super Hornet were all combat-proven platforms, they were lightweight fighters that lacked the range, carrying capacity and ordnance selection that the F-111 had from stock.

This would provide the RAAF with a bit of a unique problem. While the aircraft was in desperate need of replacement, the reality was that there was simply no platform that could provide the payload and performance figures of the Awardvark, and this is before you looked at the recon payload, TFR and avionics system.

Although the F/A-18 Super Hornet would eventually be selected as an interim replacement, along with the EA-18G Growler as an additional “big stick”, the fact is that the RAAF was forced to pick an aircraft that had poorer performance than the platform being used previously.

While the Super Hornet is by no means a terrible aircraft, this situation simply helps to highlight the unique role that would be played by the F-111 thanks to some of the features that it would bring to the table over time.

In 2003, the F-111 got angry for the first time when it used a pair of GBU-10 Laser Guided Bombs to sink the North Korean drug smuggling ship M/V Pong Su. Source: Wikipedia

Pong Su & The Final Goodbye

In 2010, the sun was setting on a successful career, however before its final hurrah, we should explore one more noteworthy incident that the F-111 would be involved in.
Except, this time it would actually get to drop weapons in anger.

It would be 2003 when the North Korean Freighter M/V Pong Su would be observed to be operating suspiciously on the eastern coast of Victoria, Aus, near the town of Boggaley Creek. Flagged in the country of Tuvalu, the Pong Su would attract the attention of the Australian Federal Police, who were working on Operation Sorbet, which aimed to intercept drug shipments into Australia.

After the arrest of two individuals netted over 11kg of Heroin, Victoria Police, Tasmanian Police, and the Royal Australian Navy would work collaboratively to stop the ship and arrest the crew.

For more than four days, Government forces would pursue the ship, attempting to board her however, the crew simply would not play the game. Finally, as the ship would pass around 35km to the south-east of Newcastle, a Royal Australian Navy Seahawk helicopter would bring a Tactical Operations Team to board the Pong Su, bringing the chase to a close.

With 30 crew members arrested, the ship was taken to Sydney, where it was searched. It would be revealed that the ship would carry additional food and fuel, enabling it to carry out global voyages with no requirement to stop for food and stores.

With it being alleged that the North Korean government would be involved in the smuggling operations, the Australian government would elect to sink the ship, and it would be the F-111 that would be called to do the task.

On the 23rd of March 2006, an RAAF F-111C would drop a pair of Paveway GBU-10 2000lb weapons on the Pong So, sinking the ship and bringing the whole saga to a close.

While the F-111 didn’t fire many warshots over its service life, it would still have plenty of interesting moments in a career that would last more than forty years.

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