Boeing prepares to expand Amberley support facilities

Signing the 10-year contract for the commercialisation of the 501 Wing Weapon Systems Business at Amberley will be the trigger for a major industry redevelopment in Queensland.
Boeing Australia's Aerospace Support Division expects to announce next month the signature of a ten-year $350 million contract to provide weapons systems support for the RAAF's fleet of F-111 combat aircraft. Colin Giles, General Manager, Aerospace Support Division (ASD), told ADM the new contract, to commercialise the RAAF's 501 Wing Weapon System Business Unit, will generate up to 200 additional specialist jobs at RAAF Base Amberley, as well as an increase in subcontracting activities such as component and mechanical repair and overhaul.

It follows the Federal Government's White Paper on Defence indicating that the RAAF will acquire new air combat and strike platforms sometime between 2015 and 2020. Meantime it will continue to upgrade the US-designed F-111, originally introduced in the mid-1960s.

Boeing plans to construct at least one additional large hangar at Amberley, where it already conducts maintenance services, including the planned block upgrade of the RAAF's F/RF-111C fleet. Existing buildings will be upgraded and enlarged.

The RAAF has also advised plans to move its transport fleet from RAAF Base Richmond in NSW and build a new facility at Amberley to support it.

Boeing Australia decided to consolidate its headquarters in Brisbane in 1998 for a number of strategic and commercial reasons. One of these was the anticipated significant capability that would be established at Amberley. Elements of the company moved from Sydney while the Aerospace Support Division moved to Queensland from Avalon in Victoria.

Until last year, Boeing was also involved in the upgrade of the RAAF's P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft at Avalon, but, says Giles, the task was passed on to its client, Raytheon, late last year by mutual agreement.

Nationally, the ASD's current list of programs includes turnkey support for Army's fleet of Bell 206B Kiowa helicopters at the ADF Helicopter School in Canberra, where it employs a staff of fifty aircraft engineers and technicians. Its role includes servicing, flight line support, publications, spares procurement and deployment. A Company test pilot performs all post-maintenance aircraft tests. This business unit will transfer to the Army Aviation Centre at Oakey in December when the ADF Helicopter School splits into separate Army and Navy elements.

On contract to BAE Systems Australia, Boeing also operates and services the MQM-107E Kalkara (aboriginal for Stormbird) remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) at the Jervis Bay naval base in NSW where the aircraft tows practice targets for F/A-18s as well as replicating sea skimming missiles for the RAN. The operation includes recovering the homing beacon-equipped RPV from the sea, stripping and refurbishing and readying for the next launching. Boeing also deploys and operates the aircraft in Western Australia.

The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) in Melbourne also employs Boeing to provide engineering support including designing and building electrical and mechanical test equipment, as well as simulation-model software for its research and development activities. The service includes support from the Boeing Imaging and Photography Group where it carries out high-speed photography of exploding particles.

The Brisbane-based ASD also maintains the Type Certificate for the 95 Australian-built Nomad aircraft that fly in various locations throughout the world. Integrated logistics support is provided by the ASD's Product Support Group including analysis of spare parts requirements, servicing, and training, including a state-of-the-art publishing capability.

An important upgrading activity is now under way at RAAF Base Williamtown in NSW where some sixty Boeing staff are involved Phase 1 of the RAAF's F/A-18 Hornet upgrade.

According to Giles, the Boeing policy is to deliver its global capability, services and skills in Australia using a local workforce, locally managed, and who understand the requirements of its local customers.

The ASD's increased capacity at Amberley may be used in the future for commercial work, thereby defraying some of RAAF's own costs via rental for the use of on-base facilities. ADM understands that Boeing also hopes to play a role in the recently announced $60 million maintenance development at Brisbane airport and will consider further expansion of its hands-on presence in Australia.

Given the multifaceted Boeing operation at Amberley which embraces Avionics Design, Aircraft Prototype Installation and Test, Logistics and Program Management and Fleet Modification, in addition to a host of other precision programs such as Software Development and Systems Engineering, the company boasts an Integrated Modification Capability.

Both total and fail-safe systems operate under the Design Integration System where existing modifications on other aircraft are transferred and integrated into the F-111, or a totally Boeing redesigned system.

According to Giles this is the only capability of its kind in Australia available to military aircraft. "Our ability to take the customer's basic requirement and proceed to design, install, prototype and test, including software and hardware, simply does not exist anywhere else in Australia," Giles says.

As exemplified by George Greaves, F-111 projects manager, Boeing Aircraft Systems, the practical applications of the integrated process of Systems Engineering is reflected in the A Kit and B Kit designs.

The A Kit, developed by Boeing from first principles, encompasses all the wiring, structural components and connections and physical components remaining in the aircraft. The B Kit, on the other hand, comprises all the computer-governed electronics or 'black boxes' usually put out to tender to specialist companies such as Honeywell, BAE Systems, IBM and others and built to Boeing's specifications.

Boeing has introduced a new management policy, Seamless Integration, which effectively eliminates the transition risk factor occurring at the prototype stage between design/development and production by introducing an interface stage between the design and production engineering phases.

Configuration management, logistics, contract, subcontract and program management all represent the processes that sit on top of Boeing's Amberley Aerospace Support unit - the glue that pulls together the entire complex.

As an Authorized Engineering Organisation (AEO), underlying this process is the group's system of accreditation that includes ISO9000 accreditation, Third Party Accreditation for Systems Design and the F-111 iaw AAP 7000.053 (accredited under the RAAF regulatory system).

In addition it covers Systems Engineering Laboratory Design, Avionics Design (flight and weapons avionics), Structures Design (excluding primary structures) as well as Environment Control System (ECS) Minor Design Change.

According to George Greaves, while all the engineering and functional capabilities are available at Amberley, when and if required, "we link in functionally with the people from the ASD headquarters, as well as the Product Support, Financial, Purchasing, Quality, and Contracts Management teams. Beyond that we link into the Boeing Australia Central Engineering organisation and, where necessary, with Boeing in the USA. In effect, we can link into the expertise available in a world-wide, 200,000 strong organisation," states Greaves.

The Boeing team at Amberley has recently completed the $300 million Avionics Upgrade Program (AUP) on the F-111.

Projects currently under way include upgrading the aircraft's electronic warfare (EW) capability including the infrared detection system, radar warning receivers (RWR), and installation of a new EW jamming and counter measures management system, the Terma AN/ALQ-213, as well as installing new voice data recorders. Other projects include the installation of a new weapons system and operational flight programs.

Importantly, since the aircraft may remain in service for the next 15 to 20 years, the Amberley team, using its software and hardware capability, has upgraded and re-housed the entire Simulation Environment training system onto a new model Unix space machine.

Efficiency is further enhanced by what Boeing calls its Block Upgrade program where a number of separate projects are integrated under one working program and carried out on the aircraft contemporaneously by relevant specialists or specialist teams. The block upgrade program reduces significantly both aircraft 'downtime' as well as costs.

Colin Giles is confident that the Seamless Integration mode of operation will provide additional certainty, cost savings and schedule reduction in the important responsibility of providing a complete through-life support to the RAAF for Australia's strategic strike capability.

By Lon Bram, Brisbane