Training: Air training projects approach critical points | ADM Sept 2009

Gregor Ferguson | Sydney

The ADF's fixed-wing pilot training project, Air 5428, reached the key 1st Pass Approval milestone in July, with a Request for Tender (RFT) now expected around mid-2010.

Concurrently, Defence expects to issue the RFT for the ADF Helicopter Aircrew Training System (HATS) project, Air 9000 Ph.7, late this year or early in 2010.

Having two major training projects under way simultaneously will be a significant challenge for industry and it's not clear whether the wider separation these projects will create between the ADF's fixed-wing and rotary wing training systems will make things easier or more difficult for the bidders.

According to AVM Jack Plenty, Head of Capability Systems in the ADF's Capability Development Group, Air 5428 is designed to provide more than just a simple replacement for the RAAF's Pilatus PC-9A turboprop trainers.

While the 2015 retirement date for the PC-9s is a key driver for the project schedule, Defence has taken the chance to try and create a complete fixed-wing training system, integrating both its Basic Flying Training System (BFTS) and Advanced Flying Training System (AFTS).

These functions currently reside at Tamworth Airport, NSW, and at RAAF Base Pearce, WA, respectively.

At Tamworth ADF fixed and rotary wing candidates and cadets undergo flight screening and Basic Flying Training on the piston-engined CT-4B trainer at a school run by BAE Systems Australia.

Currently, Army BFTS graduates go straight to the School of Army Aviation at Oakey, QLD, for helicopter conversion.

The RAAF and RAN students go to 2 Flying Training School (FTS) at Pearce for advanced training, up to ‘Wings' standard.

RAN students then go to the RAN Air Station at Nowra, HMAS Albatross, to begin helicopter training while RAAF students are streamed for fast jet or multi-crew (transport and maritime patrol) conversion.

Project Air 5428 aims to integrate BFTS and AFTS into a single, integrated program which continues to focus on the most demanding requirement, according to AVM Plenty.

He told ADM the goal is to produce "a pilot suitable to enter the fast jet training system."

This will also produce pilots eminently capable of being trained to fly the C-17, Hercules, the Caribou replacement, Boeing 737 variants and the AP-3C Orion.

Many of these pilots, once they have matured in service, will still be potential candidates for fast-jet conversion.

Defence's aim for Air 5428 is to award a Performance-Based Contract.

Bidders will have to offer a training syllabus that meets the professional and airmanship standards laid down by the RAAF for key pilot training milestones, but have relative freedom to offer a mix of manned flight and synthetic training.

Integrating BFTS and AFTS also provides an opportunity to explore a single-type aircraft solution.

The RAAF has no especially strong preference for a jet or turboprop advanced trainer, but Plenty points out this aircraft will also equip the RAAF's Central Flying School (CFS) at RAAF East Sale, VIC, which will remain firmly under RAAF control.

This is where the RAAF trains its instructors and Air Combat Officers and maintains its professional standards, a fundamental role it guards jealously.

Bidders can propose locating BFTS wherever they like (including its current Tamworth location), as long as they also include a fully costed option to put it at East Sale.

This is also the home of the RAAF Officer Training School and CFS as well as the School of Air Warfare, so there are important synergies available.

Notwithstanding cost issues which might favour one location over another, there are also social aspects of the training environment which the RAAF considers important to the professional training of young officers - it believes there are benefits from having them on a military airfield, in a military environment with suitable peers and role models.

Project Air 5428 will not be a Public-Private Partnership (PPP - or Private Finance Initiative, PFI) contract, Plenty told ADM.

The business case for the project didn't demonstrate this offered value for money, he said: too much trouble and effort for both Defence and industry for too little potential benefit.

Besides, the schedule (driven by the PC-9 life of type) is too inflexible to accommodate lengthy financial negotiations.

It's also not certain whether the aircraft will be acquired by the RAAF and so placed on the military register, or provided by the contractor; in the latter case, up-front finance costs could be hefty, but civil-registered aircraft are subject to different airworthiness requirements and as BAE Systems has demonstrated at Tamworth.

This can make an important difference to the fleet operating costs without compromising safety, airworthiness or availability.

The same issue will no doubt figure in tender responses and evaluations for Air 9000 Ph.7.

So long synergies
Hoped-for synergies between these two projects now seem more distant: RAN pilots will no longer undertake the 120-hour "wings" course at Pearce before starting rotary wing conversion.

Instead, Army and Navy BFTS graduates will go direct to the HATS at Nowra to undertake a common rotary wing conversion course before being streamed for "green" and "blue" role training.

The rotary wing conversion component will probably see greater use of synthetic trainers as well as a new training aircraft.

This could be a single or twin-engined helicopter, according to Plenty, but must be IFR-rated and preferably with retractable landing gear, reflecting the environment many graduates will enter during operational conversion.

The only significant synergy between the two training projects, according to Plenty, lies in the administration and recording of student progress, achievement and qualifications.

A common system across both training regimes would simplify the ADF's management of aircrew training and careers.