At a time when many SMEs in the defence industry are suffering from a slowdown in Defence contracts, Nowra-based aviation company Air Affairs Australia has bucked the trend by purchasing a second special mission Learjet 35A and are just completing a third purpose-built hangar at its facility in the Albatross Aviation Technology Park adjacent to HMAS Albatross.
While company engineers work on the special mission modifications and an avionics upgrade to the new Learjet in one hangar, construction of jet-powered Phoenix target drones continues in a nearby workshop.
The two activities neatly encapsulate Air Affairs’ focus on the manufacture, operation and maintenance of target drone systems, aerial towed targets and sub-systems. The company is also involved in aircraft maintenance, engineering, and bushfire mapping.
The new Learjet will enter service in the second half of this year. Air Affairs managing director Chris Sievers says it will be used for research and development and operational test and evaluation ‘in the region’, but declines to give any details.
However, he confirms the modifications include wing hard points and extension wiring throughout the aircraft for a variety of research programs.
Project JP66
The expansion abroad of the company’s target towing and target supply business has helped offset what appears to be an almost endemic delay in Joint Project 66, the introduction of a new Air Defence Target System for the ADF through a service contract.
First pass was achieved in March 2009 and a Request for Information was released to industry the same month. A Request for Tender emerged seven months later with Second Pass approval anticipated in 2010-12 and Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in 2012-2014.
Acquisition cost at the lower end of a $300-$500 million band was adjusted in the December 2010 Defence Capability Plan (DCP) Update to the low end of a $100-$300 million band and IOC was refined to 2011-2013.
To no-one’s surprise, the 2012 DCP saw the Year of Decision slipped to 2012-2014, with IOC delayed to 2013-2015 and the forecast cost of acquisition slashed to less than $100 million, but with no discernible reduction in project scope.
Well-informed sources anticipate a replacement project will be included in the DCP that will follow next Year’s Defence White Paper, probably with a redefined scope which could further delay implementation.
Sievers confirms Air Affairs will be competing for the requirement when it’s eventually released.
The last MQM-107E Kalkara drone was retired by the RAN in early 2008 after being operated for 10 years as a joint capability with the RAAF. During that time Air Affairs provided all the tow targets and various payloads for Kalkara, itself the replacement for the Australian-developed Jindivik.
Since then, missile and anti-air gunnery training for the three services has been conducted using a mix of tow targets manufactured by Air Affairs and towed by a Pel-Air Learjet, and the Air Affairs’ Phoenix target drone.
Phoenix target drone
The two-metre long TGX-2 is representative of a fighter aircraft and is augmented with a 600,000 candlepower lamp that oscillates to enhance detection ranges in both the head-on and oblique profile. A series of radar reflectors are co-located with the lamp to increase the radar signature of the target when used in conjunction with an acquisition and targeting radar.
The targets themselves weigh about 40kg and are towed at the end of a cable that can stretch up to nearly seven kilometres behind the host aircraft. They include acoustic sensors to measure the miss distance between themselves and a supersonic projectile or missile.
Defence has also been using the Phoenix drone on an ad hoc basis to provide a more demanding target for the current ADF missile systems.
Developed by Air Affairs as a cheaper alternative to expensive overseas drones, the Phoenix is manufactured using composite materials to achieve mid-speed performance at an affordable price for the Australian Market.
Powered by a Dutch-built AMT 23kg thrust micro jet engine, Phoenix has a maximum speed of nearly 300 knots, maximum altitude of 20,000ft and endurance of up to 90 minutes. The on-board jet engine drives a smoke system to provide visual recognition – further enhanced by the drone’s bright orange colour scheme - and also furnishes an infrared signature for heat-seeking missiles and IR-fused rounds.
The UAV Navigation AP04 autopilot weighs just 300 grams but includes sensors, GPS, dual redundant 32 bit processors, an interface to control servos and other peripherals and a long range radio link.
The Phoenix is catapult-launched – during which the bungy cord is stretched from four to eight metres before release– and is recovered using a parachute system.
Launched in fully automatic mode, Phoenix climbs to a pre-set altitude – generally 1,500ft - then conforms to a preloaded flight plan designating altitude, speed and heading between two waypoints.
The ground operator, monitoring the drone’s performance and position via telemetry in a purpose-built control van, can however intervene at any time via line-of-sight radio link to change the pre-set flight plan, for example by initiating the evasive manoeuvres often requested during Army RBS-70 missile firings, and then return control to the autopilot.
“When the telemetry freezes we know the platform has been hit, but we’ll initiate the parachute system in case it’s only slightly damaged,” Sievers says.
In RAAF firings involving AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on F/A-18A/B “classic” Hornets and F/A-18F Super Hornets, the preferred altitude is 15,000 ft. When the RAN is testing Evolved Sea Sparrow (ESSM) and gun systems, the preferred height varies from 1,000 ft to 50 ft and usually in a crossing profile so the drone can stay within the safety trace.
The Phoenix drone is very capable and many of the flights are used for systems calibration and simulated firing drills of varying complexity. When used in a live firing exercise, a drone’s first flight tends to be its last, Sievers says.
Affordability
As intended, however, the cost remains well below that of larger overseas drones. Although there is no comparison in capability, the US Navy’s ultra-high end GQM-163A Coyote supersonic sea skimming target (SSST) may be more than $3 million per copy.
(Last September Australia signed a fixed price contract of US$7.1 million for two Coyote base vehicles plus associated hardware, kits and production support, presumably for use at the Pacific Missile Range off Hawaii with the Anzac class Anti-Ship Missile Defence program).
Over the last decade Air Affair’s international target towing and target supply business has increased significantly and is now being used by at least nine European, South American and Asia-Pacific countries which it prefers not to identify.
Air Affairs has confirmed, however, that it works with several countries on firing ranges in South Africa and South East Asia and although the company concerned was not named, a Royal Malaysian Navy press release in October 2012 referred to the successful launch from the frigate KD Lekiu of a Sea Wolf missile against a TGX-2 target towed by a Learjet 35A.
To date Phoenix has provided ad-hoc services for both Australia and New Zealand. Sievers went on to say there is strong international interest driven by its capabilities, price, and its successful performance with the ADF.
Meanwhile the company has had more international success to date with the purchase from the US company Kaiser Marquardt in 1999 of the manufacturing rights for the MTR-101 reeling machine which provides launch and recovery of a wide range of towed targets.
The MTR-101 is carried externally on the host aircraft, gaining its reeling power from a ram air turbine and is now in service in 10 countries.
