While major projects in the Land and Sea domains are likely to dominate next year, 2017 was a momentous year for air projects and could be described as ‘a year of delivery’.
This was perhaps exemplified by the aircraft on display at the 2017 Avalon Air Show in February and March, where no less than five new Royal Australian Air Force platforms made their public debut. The headlines of course were stolen by the (albeit temporary) appearance of Australia’s first two Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, but other platforms making their Avalon debut included the Leonardo C-27J Spartan battlefield airlifter, Boeing EA-18G Growler airborne electronic attack aircraft, P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainer.
Lightning strikes
The third of 72 F-35A Lightning II aircraft for the RAAF was rolled out of the Lockheed Martin production facility at Fort Worth in November, wearing the markings of No.3 Squadron, which will be the first of the RAAF’s three ‘Classic’ Hornet squadrons to convert to the 5th generation fighter.
The aircraft is the first of eight to be produced in Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) lot 10 and all will be delivered to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, during the course of 2018. By the end of 2017 six Australian pilots and 25 maintenance personnel had been trained on the F-35A and the arrival of the first two aircraft at Williamtown remains on-track to occur sometime in December 2018. Initial Operational Capability is also currently on schedule to occur by the end of 2020.
Growlers arrive
Arguably overshadowed by the F-35A at Avalon was the arrival in Australia of the first two EA-18G Growlers. The pair was the first of 12 being delivered under Project Air 5349 Phase 3 and by the middle of 2017 all had arrived at Amberley.
“We are the only country outside the US operating the EA-18G and the full fleet arrival represents a significant leap forward in joint electronic warfare capability,” Minister Payne said in a statement marking the occasion. “The Growlers will work with Army and Navy to deliver a networked joint force able to manoeuvre and fight in the electromagnetic spectrum.”
At Avalon, Defence Minister Marise Payne also formally announced that Australia would enter into a co-operative agreement with the US Navy to participate in the joint development of the AN/ALQ-249 Next Generation Jammer Mid-band (NGJ-MB) capability for the Growler. The MoU was subsequently signed in early November and will ensure that the EA-18G will be able to counter emerging threats.
Poseidon takes over from Orion
The first of 12 P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft being delivered under the $5.4 billion Air 7000 Phase 2B project arrived in Australia in November 2016 and a further three had arrived by the middle of November. The aircraft are being delivered at a drumbeat of approximately one every three months and the fifth is due to arrive at Edinburgh as this issue of ADM goes to print.
The 12 P-8As, together with the future Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned maritime surveillance platform, will replace the RAAF’s fleet of AP-3C Orion aircraft. IOC is due to occur in January 2018 and the Poseidon will participate in the international RIMPAC exercise off Hawaii next year. During the exercise the P-8A will conduct the first live firing of an AGM-84 Harpoon anti-surface missile, a major milestone on the road to Final Operational Capability (FOC), planned for early next decade.
Spartan capability
The RAAF’s battlefield airlifter project (Air 8000 Phase 2) continues to mature, with deliveries of the Leonardo (Alenia Aermacchi) C-27J Spartan continuing throughout 2017. The C-27J achieved IOC in December 2016 and no fewer than three aircraft participated in the Avalon Air Show in February and March.
By November, eight of the 10 aircraft on order had arrived at RAAF Richmond and the remaining aircraft were undergoing final completion at the L-3 facility in Waco, Texas. The tenth and final aircraft had been delivered to L-3 from Leonardo in Italy during October.
In a major demonstration of the Spartan’s capabilities, two C-27Js participated in Exercise Spartan Dawn in October. During the exercise they landed on a number of different surfaces, including a dry river bed in outback Western Australia and on the Eyre Highway near the Western Australia/South Australia border.
21st century trainer
Although not formally delivered to the RAAF at that time, two Pilatus PC-21 trainers were on display at Avalon, the first of an eventual 49 being delivered under Project Air 5428 (Pilot Training System).
Team 21, an industry consortium led by Lockheed Martin and including Pilatus and Hawker Pacific, is responsible for the delivery of the Pilot training System, which is due to begin training fixed wing training to the ADF in early 2019.
The first batch of aircraft were formally handed over to the RAAF at East Sale during August, by which time 10 aircraft had arrived in Australia on delivery from Pilatus in Switzerland.
HATS off to rotary wing training
Although technically a joint project, JP9000 Phase 7 is delivering a Helicopter Aircrew Training System (HATS) to the ADF, in a similar manner to Air 5428. Under the project, 15 Airbus Helicopters EC135 T2+ helicopters will form the core of the new training system, which will begin training Army and Navy aircrew candidates from early 2018.
All 15 helicopters have now been delivered to Nowra, where they will replace Navy Squirrel and Army Kiowa helicopters. The Squirrel was formally retired at a paying off ceremony at Nowra on December 1st, but the Kiowa will soldier on at Oakey until sometime in 2019.
In preparation for the commencement of training, first of class flight trials were conducted aboard the aviation training vessel, MV Sycamore off the eastern seaboard in October.
Tanker fleet grows
The RAAF received a further boost on its air mobility capability in September, with the delivery of its sixth Airbus KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT). The aircraft is one of two additional aircraft being acquired via the $700 million Project Air 7403 Phase 3.
The second aircraft (the seventh overall) is currently undergoing conversion with Airbus Defence and Space at Getafe, on the outskirts of Madrid and will be delivered in the 2018-2019 financial year. This aircraft will have a partial VIP interior and communications equipment which will allow it to also perform special purpose aircraft (SPA) duties when required.
At the Avalon Air Show, Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies announced KC-30A Final Operational Capability (FOC) and also signed a joint agreement with Airbus Defence and Space to further develop the MRTT’s capabilities, adopting several technologies being developed under the manufacturer’s ‘smart tanker’ program. The first initiative will be the joint development of the automatic air to air refuelling (A3R) concept, which was demonstrated in March.
Towards the (unmanned) future
Looking forwards, two Air projects which are likely to gain further traction during 2018 are the ADF’s two major unmanned programs. These are the Triton project (Air 7000 Phase 1B) and the armed medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAS to be acquired under Air 7003 Phase 1.
Seven Triton air vehicles and their associated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and control networks will be acquired under the $4 billion Air 7000 Phase 1B between 2017 and 2030, according to last years’ Integrated Investment Plan (DIIP). The first systems will be delivered in the early 2020s and an announcement by government is expected during the course of next year.
Defence was been watching closely as the US Triton program matures and the delivery of the first operational air vehicle to the US Navy at Point Mugu, California, in November is a key milestone for the Australian project.
Further into 2018 a government announcement on the acquisition of an armed MALE UAS under Air 7003 Phase 1 is likely.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) of the US is proposing a variant of its certifiable Predator B platform, currently under development for the UK’s Protector program and due to enter service around 2020. Competing with GA-ASI is the Malat division of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), which is proposing its Heron TP MALE remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). As to whether there will be a competition remains to be seen.The new capability will replace the ADF’s unarmed IAI Heron 1 system acquired for use in Afghanistan in late 2009 and which finally retired in August this year.
This article first appeared in the December/January 2018 edition of ADM.