England head out for Ashes
England's cricketers fly to Australia on Friday to begin their defence of the Ashes they won on home soil in 2009.
The 16-man squad leave Heathrow Airport at 1205 BST ahead of the five-match series against their fiercest rivals.
England have not won a Test series down under since 1986-87 and they lost 5-0 on their most recent visit in 2006-07.
But Andrew Strauss's side arrive ranked fourth in the world, while Ricky Ponting's Australia are fifth and have lost their last three Tests.
Ahead of the flight, Strauss urged his players to be more confrontational than they were in 2006.
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"I'm not sure about not being able to say hello to them but until the end of that fifth Test there's two sides at war with each other," said Strauss, who hopes to become the first man since Mike Brearley in 1977 and 1978-79 to lead England to successive Ashes triumphs.
"Both sides know that at the end of the series there's going to be 11 guys feted as heroes and 11 guys who failed in their task. Until that final Test is over there's no point being too hunky-dory or friendly with the opposition. Our task is to go out there and try to beat them."
England have won only three of their last 26 Ashes Tests in Australia - all when the outcome had already been decided.
But the tourists are in a rich vein of form, with eight wins from 12 Tests - although four of those wins were against Bangladesh - since the 2009 Ashes success as well as victory in this year's ICC World Twenty20.
Their tour starts on 5 November with a match against Western Australia and there are two further warm-ups before the first Test in Brisbane on 25 November and the second Test in Adelaide on 3 December.
England travel to Perth for the third Test, which starts on 16 December, head to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test and finish the series in Sydney from 3-7 January.
Former Australia wicketkeeper/batsman Adam Gilchrist believes England are favourites and are in the right frame of mind to retain the Ashes.
"Either team could win it and I think everyone is anticipating another tight series," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
"In 2009 you didn't know what the match situation was going to be at the end of each day. It will be a hard-fought, closely contested series.
"I see a very confident, compact England unit about to arrive. England should start favourites - they are the most composed group at the moment and seem to have confidence about each other and as a group. That will serve them well on that first morning.
"But either team could win it. You can hardly split the top four or five teams in world cricket at the moment, there is no dominant team. On any given day one can beat the other."
Gilchrist, who scored 1083 runs in 20 Tests against England between 2001 and 2007, was part of the hugely successful Australia team that included Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and skipper Ponting.
 Australia are enduring their worst losing streak since 1988-89
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Three of those stellar players are now retired but Ponting remains, and Gilchrist believes his former team-mate has a tough task on his hands.
"Australia have a tremendous home record and have been particularly strong over the last 15-20 years," added Gilchrist.
"The West Indies did well in the 1980s and early 90s but since then it's been a bit bare for the touring teams.
"Australia play the conditions well and Ricky Ponting plays particularly well in home conditions. There is going to be a lot of weight on his shoulders if they're to be successful and I suspect he'll be up for it too.
"But there is uncertainty about what their best 11 is when everyone is fully fit. The bowling has suffered a great deal of disruption and that makes it difficult. The spin bowling position has always been under question since Shane Warne left.
"The team have taken a blow in confidence with a series of negative results and I think we are realising we don't like losing and took for granted that we were winning so often."
Ken Schofield, the leading golf administrator who was recruited to oversee a review into the 2006 debacle, believes the England and Wales Cricket Board has listened to his recommendations in a bid to avoid a similar fate this time round.
Schofield is particularly impressed by England's warm-up schedule, which was widely regarded as unsatisfactory on the last tour and also praised the partnership between Strauss and coach Andy Flower.
"Time will tell. This will be the acid test," Schofield told BBC Radio 5 live. "It would seem to me that Flower and Strauss have lined up some serious warm-up matches. They have got a settled management.
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I've watched England over the last couple of years and they're a good unit but we know our conditions in Australia, we're very confident here and we've got a quality side
Ex-Australia captain Steve Waugh
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"Flower commands the respect of all his players and Strauss is a very serious leader.
"Under Strauss's leadership the team has become a serious team, getting the very best out of all parts - and the integrity of Strauss stands at the very top end in cricket.
"They are being treated as proper first-class matches, as opposed to the 13 or 14-a-side ones on the previous tour. The preparation is as we've suggested and we must hope it bears fruit."
Meanwhile, former Australia captain Steve Waugh has warned his country's under-performing senior players they can not count on experience alone to keep their places in the team to face England.
Ponting's men lost the final Test of their series against Pakistan in England during the summer and were recently beaten 2-0 in India to confirm their worst losing streak since 1988-89.
Waugh, who led Australia to 41 Test victories including eight out of nine Ashes Tests, said: "Just because it's an Ashes series it doesn't make it any different from any other series. You've got to put your best 11 players on the park irrespective of age or experience.
"I'm never a big believer of picking players by age, it's more the passion, your form and whether you're the right person for the job."
Waugh believes Australia will win a tightly-contested Ashes series 3-2 due to superior knowledge of the home conditions.
"I've watched (England) over the last couple of years and they're a good unit," he added. "They play very well together, they're hard to beat, they've got a good team spirit, they're well led and I think they'll fancy their chances of beating Australia.
"(But) we know our conditions very well in Australia, we're very confident here and we've got a quality side so there's no reason they can't win."
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