From the Source: Brig. Andrew Dudgeon, Director General Army Aviation Systems, DMO | ADM Jun 07

1 June 2007

By Julian Kerr

Brigadier Andrew Dudgeon is Director-General, Army Aviation Systems within the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO). As such, he is responsible for all Army Aviation acquisition projects as well as sustainment of the current operational fleet. He spoke to ADM's Senior Correspondent, Julian Kerr.

PROFILE - BRIGADIER ANDREW DUDGEON
1979 - Joined Royal Australian Navy as Cadet Midshipman
1989 - Commanding Officer minesweeper HMAS Brolga
1990 - Transferred to Army Aviation Corps. Accumulated in excess of 2,000
flying hours in a variety of fixed and rotary wing aircraft, served on
operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan
2005 - Director General of Army Aviation Systems

ADM: How big a challenge is it for Army to introduce the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter? What are some of the issues?

Dudgeon: It is a great challenge, but it's not underestimated in any way at all by Army. It's new, state-of-the-art technology with weapons far more capable than anything we've used in the past. We're also now flying in a tandem-seat helicopter.

When you're flying at low level with night vision goggles and can't even see your co-pilot, it presents real cockpit resource management (CRM) challenges. To ease this transition we have established exchange positions with the US Marine Corps flying Cobras, the British Army flying Apaches, and the US Army 101st Airborne Division flying the Kiowa Warrior.

Many of our guys and girls have seen operational service in Iraq and Afghanistan. We've attended US Marine Corps air weapons tactics courses, British Army helicopter warfare instructor courses, we've conducted extensive training in France with Eurocopter, training our initial test pilots and leading on to Eurocopter coming here and teaching our instructors as well.

In developing the CRM procedures we enlisted the services of DSTO who developed a testbed in Adelaide where we worked very closely with them to develop a comprehensive set of procedures for handover/takeover drill between cockpits, between crew members so everyone knows who's flying.

No-one else in the world has developed a procedure quite like it. So now we've standardised that across Army Aviation in all aircraft types; everyone has the same handover/ takeover procedure and we've delivered that to the French and the Germans, the British and the Americans through our user-community organisations, and they think it's a magnificent procedure. Basically, we're trying to introduce the Tiger in a safe and graduated fashion.

ADM: Has Army Aviation completed a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for the Tiger?

Dudgeon: Absolutely. We started considering this even before the down-selection of the Tiger. It was actually quite easy because the US and the UK have been operating armed reconnaissance helicopters for some time now and we've had had our personnel exchanges for many, many years.

We'd also established well in advance of the project the Army Aviation Capability Development Group. It's now called the Directorate of Aviation Capability Implementation and they have developed the majority of our doctrine and procedures. This continues to evolve, but it's based predominantly on the experience and doctrine gained from the US and UK.

ADM: How does the CONOPS affect the rest of Army?

Dudgeon: The whole of Army is going through an adjustment in line with the Chief of Army's vision for the Hardened and Networked Army. We're just a part of that. There really is a change in the whole paradigm of Army in particular as we transition to a battlespace where there's a rapid transfer of personnel, equipment and, importantly, information.

Tiger is a major part of that; one of the facets of the Hardened and Networked Army is being harder to hit, and being able to hit harder. Increased communications and data link capabilities are all things that Tiger provides, so we're all changing together.

ADM: In practical terms, how does the arrival of the Tiger and the MRH90 affect infantry training?

Dudgeon: At the initial training stages, it won't have too much of an impact. But as soldiers head out to the battalions - particularly if they're training to become forward air controllers or section commanders - they'll certainly be made aware of the Tiger; it's going to be the one flying over the top of them providing firepower and information.

Tiger will be able to provide instantaneous information transfer to the land commander, who will then be able to pass information to his soldiers on the ground. Also, the level of firepower that Tiger will be able to deliver with the 30mm cannon and the 70mm rockets, and precision firepower with the Hellfire missile, is unprecedented in the land environment.

It's actually owned by the land commander, who can provide his own integral firepower to the soldiers on the ground. Tiger is not a pilot's aeroplane; it's more of a soldier's aeroplane. Its firepower and other capabilities will save soldiers' lives on operations, I've no doubt about that.

ADM: Is there specialist air movement training for troops deploying frequently by helicopter?

Dudgeon: There's already an enormous amount of training on helicopters for "frequent flyers". A major role for the 5th Aviation Regiment and 171 Aviation Squadron involves flying training with the 3rd Brigade in Townsville and Special Forces in Sydney.

All frequent over-water flyers conduct helicopter underwater escape training in Townsville and/or Nowra. Anyone who flies in Army helicopters is well-trained before they deploy on operations.

ADM: Does the introduction of the MRH90 require any change to existing troop formations?

Dudgeon: There's seating for 20 in crashworthy seats which is an increase on any of the current troop lift helicopters. If you're talking about troops in full marching order, the MRH90 will carry eight in crashworthy seats, plus the two door gunners and two pilots.

The current belt webbing used by infantry limits space between seats, whether you're in a Blackhawk or an MRH90. In the future, the move to increased chest webbing should ease that limitation, but there's no current plan to modify the seats as they are.

During operational test and evaluation we'll develop the way we operate in the MRH90. At the moment we've procured the aircraft, it's got a large, open cabin area with 20 crashworthy seats, and we're going to work with the contractor and Army to develop the ways we employ its troop-carrying capacity.

ADM: What are the major operational differences between the Blackhawk and the MRH90?

Dudgeon: They're pretty simple. The MRH90 can carry more soldiers further and faster. It's also state-of-the-art technology with a digital glass cockpit, forward-looking infrared (FLIR), and weather radar.

These last two are major, major force-enhancers. It also comes with the identical helmet-mounted display we've integrated onto Tiger to provide enhanced situational awareness for the crew.

ADM: How far along is the development of a maritime/amphibious CONOPS?

Dudgeon: It's very well advanced. In the '90s Army and Navy formed the Joint Amphibious Aviation Group, looking at maritime and amphibious operations across the board.

When we talk about amphibious operations it's not just about landing on a ship; the main part is getting ashore then reverting to night vision over the land and delivering soldiers over the battle field. We've been working very closely with Navy.

We've just trained several naval aviators as Blackhawk pilots and put them into 5 Aviation Regiment and 171 Squadron, because Navy will be using Night Vision Goggles (NVG) with its MRH90s. We've been operating Blackhawks off our own and US LPAs exceptionally well over the last few years.

ADM: How closely are you working with our allies on the maritime CONOPS?

Dudgeon: The Navy has had exchanges with the Royal Marines for some time now, and I myself trained for some time as a pilot with the Royal Navy's commando helicopter force. They come back with invaluable experience of shipboard operations and NVG flying in Sea Kings.

With the US Marine Corps, attendance on course with them is the main thing but there's been a lot of doctrine exchange, and now the establishment of our first Cobra pilot exchange. We'll build on that experience.

ADM: What about cooperation with the New Zealanders?

Dudgeon: We've already held many working groups with the Kiwis, and we've invited them to embed one officer into our Aviation Capability Implementation team to exchange some of the NH90 lessons. We're working closely with them.

ADM: How far does Army Aviation's rotary wing capability depend on its relationship with the contractor?

Dudgeon: The relationship we have with Australian Aerospace now could not be more robust. They've invested in some quality people and I'll even name one. They've brought out a highly-experienced engineering project manager from Europe, Mr Alexander Mueller, who is across both the MRH90 and Tiger and so he's my counterpart.

He and I work together daily to ensure we deliver Tiger and MRH90 capabilities to Army and Navy as soon as possible. We've also equipped ourselves with the best possible engineers, project managers and finance staff so we can do that.

ADM: What was the impact of the critical report on the Tiger program by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO)?

Dudgeon: There's no doubt that at the time of the ANAO report there were some issues on both sides - the contractor and the Commonwealth could both have performed better.

That said, a lot of good things came out of the ANAO audit as well. The initial in-service date of the first two Tigers on 15 December was achieved. Since then they've flown more than 1,300 hours, we've trained 9 pilots, we've increased our rate of effort to pick up our training at Oakey, and the ANAO report also highlighted our exceptional Australian industry content.

I think the contractor's move to place Mr Mueller here, plus some excellent staff, together with my position within the DMO going across both projects, really has improved communication between sides and we're moving ahead in a positive manner.

ADM: Army has been using predominantly US helicopters for about 40 years. What will change now you're moving to Franco-German platforms?

Dudgeon: Very little. Major-General Tony Fraser, the head of Helicopter Systems Division, recently visited the US Army Aviation Association conference and had meetings with the head of US Army Aviation.

We have very, very close ties with both the UK and the US. It's interesting to note that the US has just procured in excess of 400 EC145 utility helicopters from Eurocopter; times are changing. It's also important to note that we've formed close ties with both France and Germany, and Spain now, as part of the Tiger workup group.

We've also part of the MH90 technical user community. We meet routinely, we exchange information, and we work together very closely.

ADM: What are the challenges in bringing two new helicopter types into service in quick succession?

Dudgeon: Both are highly complex projects and they're both high value, so they're high profile. We're lucky in having a common contractor - common logistics, common training because there are many common systems. Importantly, the contractor understands our requirements and the way we do business.

There are some challenges, because it is different to the European way. We're a demanding customer, we have a very robust regulatory environment - I'm not saying Europeans don't, but we have our own way of doing business.

However, we're working together exceptionally well and moving ahead; the documentation and the preparations for the MHR90 airworthiness board at the end of this year is very robust and I have no doubt we're moving well for the acceptance of our first MRH90.

ADM: What's the manpower situation with pilots and ground crew?

Dudgeon: We're moving to a smaller fleet. Currently Army has close to 120 helicopters and we're going to reduce to 22 ARH, 46 MH90 - of which six will go to Navy - and between six to 12 CH-47, meaning a maximum fleet of about 78 aircraft.

Currently we're well-manned, but we have a highly-trained, highly-skilled and highly-sought after workforce, so it's a fragile capability which must always be managed very carefully.

We've invested heavily and successfully in lateral recruiting - we've got British, American, and South African test pilots who've wanted a change of life and have moved to Australia, and we're benefiting from their experience.

ADM: What are the issues shaping Army Aviation's requirements for the new ADF rotary wing flying training system?

Dudgeon: New technologies. We're moving from the older technology platforms of the past to glass cockpit, twin engined, high-speed, armed helicopters across the ADF.

ADM: If Air 9000 Phase 7 is approved, how will this affect Boeing's long-term flying training and support contract at Oakey, which was only recently signed?

Dudgeon: The Boeing contract wouldn't be affected because it was framed for a five year time period, so there would be no overlap. There are also provisions for extensions to the Boeing contract so that all contractors can bid for Air 9000 Phase 7, including Boeing.

ADM: What commonality do you envisage between Air 9000 Phase 7 and Air 5428?

Dudgeon: We want one common Army-Navy helicopter flying training program, and clearly the ADF will welcome any proposals from industry that will offer synergies with the ADF pilot training system.

I don't see the two projects joining each other, but industry at the moment should be looking at ways of offering common cockpits, common simulation, common training devices, common computer-based training, so we can front-load as much of our training as possible on to the cheapest platform.

There are many industry working groups looking at the issues and we're setting up an Air 9000 Phase 7 project office to field industry questions. Industry are the experts. We want their ideas.

ADM: Have the requirements yet been determined for a helicopter training ship?

Dudgeon: Yes, industry has been informed that as part of Phase 7, we will be looking for a helicopter training platform.

ADM: The 2007-08 budget papers show you'll be flying the Iroquois for 500 hours in the course of the year. When will the type be retired?

Dudgeon: We've wound down the Huey to one troop (three helicopters) at Oakey providing search and rescue, and loadmaster training. They will be withdrawn from service later this year when Boeing provides replacement helicopters as part of its flying training and support contract.