Defence Business: AIC or GSC | ADM November 2011
Julian Kerr | Sydney
The first industry briefing held since selection of the Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky MH-60R as the RAN’s new combat helicopter was attended by about 60 members of the Shoalhaven Defence Industry Group. The briefing was given by project director Captain Scott Lockey RAN and executives from Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, CAE, General Electric and Raytheon, the five companies which together make up Team Romeo. Rear Admiral Mark Campbell, Head of DMO’s Helicopter Systems Division, also spoke briefly.
The briefing coincided with a week-long visit to Australia by a US Navy team and a MH-60R logistics planning conference involving the USN team and DMO officials, supported by Team Romeo.
Notwithstanding the uplifting view of the Shoalhaven River from the briefing room at the Bundanon estate of the late artist Arthur Boyd, the atmosphere grew less ebullient as it became clear that work beyond the delivery of new facilities could be more limited than anticipated.
The first of the 24 MH-60Rs will arrive at HMAS Albatross near Nowra in January 2014 and one full mission-capable aircraft should be at sea by March 2015, Capt. Lockey disclosed. All the aircraft will be at Nowra by the end of 2018 and full operational capability (FOC), with eight single helicopter flights at sea on Anzac class frigates and air warfare destroyers, will be achieved towards the end of 2023.
This is due to changes required aboard the AWDs to accommodate and handle the anticipated introduction of the Joint Ground to Air Missile (JAGM) to replace the Hellfire II air to ground missile with which the MH-60R will initially be equipped. JAGM will increase the MH-60R’s reach from eight to 28 kilometres.
The aircraft will be supported in service by the Maritime Helicopter Support Company, a joint venture comprising the members of Team Romeo. Defence will be seeking an annual rate of effort of 7,200 flight hours.
Although the acquisition route through the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) channel is familiar, the support arrangement is not. This involves a Letter of Offer and Acceptance with the USN whereby Defence purchases sustainment services from the USN, which is then responsible for putting in place the relevant subcontracts with the Team Romeo partners, and other contractors as required.
The Commonwealth will deal direct with the USN, with at least one USN representative embedded in the Naval Aviation System Program Office.
“Our challenge….. is making sure that the existing USN support system is integrated appropriately into the existing ADF support system and that the interfaces are well understood and well-managed,” said Capt. Lockey.
“That doesn’t mean that Australian industry and Shoalhaven industries have been excluded from the program,” he added.
“The Australian Industry Capability (AIC) arrangements will be finalised with the Team Romeo partners in direct relationships between the Commonwealth and those partners when the sustainment contract let by the USN is finalised.”
He expected the AIC arrangements to be completed next year and to be similar in shape and size to those already in place for the S-70B-2 Seahawks.
Capt. Lockey said two new hangars would be built at HMAS Albatross together with two new squadron buildings with a co-located synthetic training facility that would house a full mission simulator, weapons tactical trainer, a full aircraft maintenance trainer, an avionics maintenance trainer, and a range of other part-task trainers.
According to Chris Clapperton, Director Marine and Asia Strategies of Sikorsky Aerospace Services, the RAN’s MH-60Rs would be staying in lockstep with the USN in terms of configuration “but this doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.”
Sikorsky would be handling certification, deeper maintenance, providing logistics support, and holding and managing on behalf of the RAN the aircraft spares arriving via the USN supply chain.
The company would be building an 8,000sq metre facility at Nowra’s Technology Park, and a decision on the Expressions of Interest already received would be taken by March next year to ensure the facilities would be up and running by 2013.
The operation would employ about 140 people and include at least five maintenance hangars, a 2,500sq metre warehouse, training and conference rooms, but limited backshops.
“I’m not going to kid anybody; the concept is that low level maintenance will be happening here and we’re taking it into the US support system for the depot level,” Clapperton said.
“The opportunities here are facilities construction, ground support equipment maintenance and calibration services together with fire, security and all the other services needed to maintain the facility.”
Sikorsky, as Lockheed Martin had already done, would be entering into a global supply chain agreement with the Commonwealth and it was here that the real business opportunities would be found, Clapperton stated.
Sikorsky would be posting an executive to Australia whose role was to open doors for local industry into Sikorsky and its parent company United Technologies Corporation “not just for manufacture, it’s going to be for manufacture, repair and overhaul.
“So instead of focusing on supporting just 24 aircraft, the opportunity is there for involvement with 300 or 600 aircraft or more.”
Meanwhile Sikorsky was working with Commonwealth and State government industry departments, DMO’s Industry Division and the Australian Industry and Defence Network (AIDN). SMEs should ensure all these organisations were aware of their capabilities, and be registered on the DMO’s e-Portal.
Clapperton told ADM later that it was too early to determine whether a pre-selection proposal by Sikorsky to refurbish and sell on the international market the ADF’s fleet of 15 Seahawks and 35 S-70A-9 Blackhawks would proceed.
Neale Prescott, Director Helicopter Programs at Lockheed Martin Australia, disclosed that Lockheed too would be establishing an additional position in Canberra, reporting to Chief Executive Raydon Gates, to ensure that Australian companies had the chance to compete for business in the United States.
“It’s a straightforward but very aggressive supply chain approach that you’d be engaged in,” he said.
“Each of the opportunities that come along will be based very much on a series of criteria – quality, certainty of supply, financial aspects, technical capabilities and so on.”
Prescott told a questioner it had not been possible to close a business case for supporting the RAN MH-60Rs’ avionics suites in Australia “ïn any sort of timeframe that any financier would consider acceptable.
“We’re not wanting to be unkind, but the current pipelines are really the only way we’re going to be able to sustain them.”
Organisational maintenance of the MH-60R’s T500-401C engines would be undertaken by the RAN at Nowra but, as with the Seahawks, deeper maintenance would continue to be provided by Asia Pacific Aerospace in Brisbane, General Electric executive Tom Champion told the briefing.
Support of the suite of training devices on order for the MH-60R would be transposed from contracts already in place in Nowra for the Sea King and Seahawk simulators, CAE executive Ed Choice said. A rear-end trainer would be built in Australia as part of the AIC offering.
“It’s very easy now to pick up these devices from the other side of the world, put them into Nowra and support them using the local concepts that we have already developed,” he said.
“We’re looking at maintaining the workforce because of the increased number of devices that we’re having and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to participate with training delivery and coursework development. If those elements do eventuate we’ll be looking to engage local industry in the development of those facets.”
Subject: Air