Although Army hopes to declare Final Operational Capability (FOC) in early 2016 for its Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (ARH), progress continues to be hampered by supply chain difficulties in Europe.
More positively, Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for the jointly-operated MRH90 multirole helicopter is anticipated in April by the RAN and before the end of the year by Army, with FOC for Navy in 2015 and for Army towards the end of 2017.
Given that a $1.3 billion contract for 22 Tigers was signed with Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) in December 2001 and the first four aircraft were delivered three years later, FOC has been a long time in coming.
This will effectively be reached when the two Darwin-based Tiger squadrons, No 161 and No 162, are declared operational, providing the required capability for 1 Aviation Regiment.
A key milestone for Tiger last July saw 161 Squadron reach Operational Capability Milestone 2 – an ability to operate day and night into a threat environment.
Army is now populating 162 Squadron with aircrew and soldier-maintainers to form the second discrete squadron with FOC being forecast for the first quarter of 2016, although questions remain about support issues.
Supply Chain Challenges
“There’s no doubt there’s still a way to go to be really comfortable we can support a second squadron in Darwin,” said Rear Admiral Tony Dalton, Head Helicopter Systems at DMO.
“We’re working closely with Australian Aerospace and Airbus Helicopters to try to improve the maintenance support network, especially the European part of it. To be quite frank, there’s still a degree of frustration that we haven’t got that support network to the place we’d really like it to be.
“We’ve got enough spares. What we see is a repairs pipeline in Europe that is not very responsive, so turnaround time is too long.”
Although the helicopter environment was a challenging one and the Tiger was a sensor-rich platform, the high levels of humidity and temperatures to which the aircraft were exposed in Darwin were nothing beyond what Airbus Helicopters would expect with supporting aircraft in the offshore oil and gas industry.
RADM Dalton said he had discussed the situation with Airbus Helicopters’ CEO Guillaume Faury in December and had been “extremely direct” in criticising the slowness with which the support network was being strengthened. His concerns were shared by his counterparts in fellow Tiger-operators France and Germany, he added.
According to the Portfolio Additional Estimates, Tigers flew 2,444 hours in 2012-13 and are forecast to reach 6,042 hours in 2016-17.
“I told Mr Faury that 6,000 hours is a real requirement for us and I look forward to seeing how they go forward in helping us to achieve that since it will obviously have an influence on what we do with Tiger in the future,” RADM Dalton said.
“We’ve seen Australian Aerospace and their sub-contractors invest quite a lot of money here to be able to do overhauls and repairs on the MTR390 engines and on the Strix (a roof-mounted sight incorporating TV and thermal imaging sensors, laser rangefinder and laser spot tracker linked to helmet-mounted sights/displays).
“We’re happy with that but the main issue is the turnaround time in Europe for overhaul of our repairable items.
“Some elements of contractual requirements are not being met and we’re certainly discussing that all the time with Australian Aerospace and its parent company.”
(A spokesman for Airbus Helicopters and its Australian Aerospace subsidiary told ADM that both companies were working with the Commonwealth to improve supply chain performance on both the ARH Tiger and MRH90.
“We have launched projects both internally and with our third-party vendors to deliver the improved performance our defence force quite rightly deserves,” the spokesman added).
Progress towards Final Operational Capability
Sixteen Tigers are now with 1 Aviation Regiment and the other six are used for training at the Oakey Army Aviation Centre. The last of the 22 aircraft was delivered from Australian Aerospace’s Brisbane assembly facility in November 2011 and a rolling retrofit program to bring the fleet up to a common final configuration was completed in December the following year.
Fumes in the aircraft’s sealed cockpit resulted in the fleet being grounded twice in 2012, and several other unrelated fume incidents have occurred over the past 12 months. A potentially suspect power chip in the two multifunction displays inside each aircraft has been replaced, several potential fume pathways have been blocked and he was confident the problem has been solved, RADM Dalton said.
Achieving FOC includes the completion of first-of-class flight trials by the RAN’s Flight Test unit on the new Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) HMAS Canberra, probably early next year although MRH90 trials are the priority.
“We’ve done the desktop analysis for Tiger operating in the maritime environment and we’re comfortable that’s not going to present too many problems. We’ve also watched quite closely the French operate Tiger from their Mistral class amphibious assault ships and we’re not seeing any showstoppers,” RADM Dalton noted.
The trials will also involve establishing what additional maintenance will be needed to support the Tiger while at sea. This is expected to be for only a small percentage of the aircraft’s life, and its largely composite airframe and structure and foldable main rotor blades will reduce the support effort required for amphibious operations.
Tigers will be able to refuel and rearm aboard an LHD. Circumstance will dictate whether they deploy on their own or as part of a mixed rotary wing unit which could also include MRH90s and Army’s new CH-47F Chinook heavylifters.
One significant current shortcoming is the inability of the Tiger’s Eurogrid datalink, which allows the aircraft to communicate with each other and with squadron headquarters, to integrate with Army’s battle management system (BMS).
Feasibility testing has indicated that a relatively small radio modification in Tiger would allow either a standalone display on the pilot’s knee or a separate display inside the cockpit to plug in to the BMS without being integrated into Eurogrid, greatly enhancing situational awareness.
Planning is now underway with BMS supplier Elbit Systems and Australian Aerospace on a method of installing this modification across the Tiger fleet. A new datalink utilising a Variable Message Format will be the key element, next year’s Defence Capability Plan allowing, of an ARH Capability Assurance Program which will replace Project Air 87 Phase 3.
Maturing the MRH90
When fully operational with both Navy and Army, the MRH90 will be available for two airmobile squadrons, one special operations support squadron, and one maritime support helicopter squadron able to provide airmobile and maritime support capability to the ADF from land bases as well as the Canberra class LHDs.
As of March, 27 aircraft had been accepted. Four more are scheduled for delivery this calendar year, all in the Product Baseline 3 (PBL 3) mature configuration, after which deliveries alternate between six and seven a year with the 47th and final platform due in June 2017.
Five PBL3 MRH90s are now with 808 Squadron in Nowra and five at 5 Aviation Regiment in Townsville. Nine aircraft in a mix of PBL2 and 3 are based at Oakey, two are in deeper maintenance, and five early configuration MRH90s are undergoing the year-long upgrade to PBL3 standard, a process that involves both software and hardware changes, with Australian Aerospace in Brisbane.
Deeds of Agreement
During this time the opportunity is being taken to incorporate many of the technical fixes that were identified in the first two of three Deeds of Agreement between Australian Aerospace and the Commonwealth. These include the application of foil to windscreens to prevent cracking, more reliable oil cooler fans, improved passenger seating and strengthened cabin floors, the latter being incorporated into the assembly process from Aircraft 35 onwards.
The third Deed, in effect from last July, rebaselined the delivery schedule and added a 47th helicopter at no cost to the Commonwealth. This will allow one airframe to be rotated as a live training aid through Army’s Rotary Wing Aircraft Maintenance School at Oakey.
Significantly, the Deed also introduced an incentive-based “repair by the hour” agreement under which the Commonwealth pays a baseline price and then a fixed price for every flying hour.
“The more we fly the more money Australian Aerospace gets. If we don’t fly very much then they don’t get very much money,” RADM Dalton commented.
“We’ve effectively had two quarters under the new regime, we’ve certainly seen Australian Aerospace step up to the requirements, and we just want to see that continue”.
The MRH90 Rate of Effort forecast in the Portfolio Additional Estimates rises from 3,360 flying hours in 2013-14 to 4,566 hours in 2014-15, 5.661 hours in 2015-16 and 6,042 hours in 2016-17.
This includes 1,400 hours for the RAN in 2013-14 and 1,500 hours thereafter, assuming five aircraft in 808 Squadron and one in deeper maintenance.
Training Boost
Training throughput has also been boosted by the commissioning at Oakey last August of the ADF’s first MRH90 full flight and mission simulator, a six-axis motion unit with a full daylight display system. A second simulator from France was in the acceptance process in February and will be installed in Townsville by the end of the year.
“Prior to August we had to use the simulator in France and we were restricting potential MRH90 pilots to those who already had some rotary wing experience. Now we have a fully integrated training system in place in Australia which is now able to support the growth in fleet activity.”
Also, possibly, to be utilised by RNZAF MRH90 pilots? “We’re still working out how we’ll do that but I can’t imagine the New Zealanders would want to go all the way to France if they can get access to a simulator here in Australia,” RADM Dalton commented.
For the RAN, IOC includes standing up the first embarked flight. Comprising a single aircraft and three pilots, two aircrewmen and 13 maintainers, progress towards this received a fillip last November with the successful deployment of an MRH90 aboard HMAS Tobruk to assist with disaster relief in the Philippines.
As of February, in addition to Tobruk the RAN had finalised the operating envelope for HMAS Choules, was in the process of doing so for HMAS Success, and was ready to begin trials on HMAS Canberra as soon as access became available, thus clearing the way for the more extensive FOC requirement of three embarked flights.
Problems with the external cargo hook which led to the inadvertent release of two loads on overseas aircraft have been resolved, but compatibility issues with Navy’s aerial delivery equipment mean the hook will in due course be modified.
“That doesn’t mean they can’t use it right now, they’re using slightly different equipment on some of the strops that hook the external load onto the aircraft,” RADM Dalton commented.
“It’s not ideal, but it’s still do-able.”
Concerns about the amount of space occupied by the cabin door machine gun mount supplied with the MRH90 have led to its replacement with a mount designed locally by QinetiQ and manufactured by Ferra Engineering.
“If you put a gun in the door you limit the amount of space you have to fast rope from the aircraft. That’s something we’re still working our way through in terms of the gun’s location and Army’s desire to insert troops down a double rope,” RADM Dalton said.
Running parallel with the growing number of MRH90s coming online is a gradual wind down in Black Hawk activity. Forecast flying hours fall from 6,500 hours in 2013-14 to 3,730 in 2016-17.
“We’re starting to bring Black Hawks out of the operational squadrons and put them in preservation and that will start to happen more frequently towards the end of the year. We’ll probably do the last of the deeper maintenance servicing on Black Hawks towards the end of the year; the last deeper maintenance period for the Seahawk began in January,” said RADM Dalton.
Disposal options ranged from on-selling (with US approval) to being broken up for spares, but no decision has yet been taken.
