The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has overnight approved a Baseline 2 upgrade for Australia’s MC-55A Peregrine Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare (ISREW) platform, even before the first aircraft is delivered from L3Harris Technologies in the US.
The potential upgrade, approved by US Congress will be enacted under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mechanism and will come at an estimated cost of US$404 million ($621 million).
The DSCA notification says that the Commonwealth has requested the purchase of equipment and services to support maintenance of it’s proposed fleet of four MC-55A aircraft and will include “major and minor modifications, spare parts, consumables and accessories”, as well as technical and logistics support.
“The proposed sale will improve Australia’s capability to maintain its fleet of MC-55A aircraft that enhances its ability to conduct effective air operations and supports US operations in the region,” the notification states. “Australia will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.”
The four Peregrine aircraft are being acquired under Project Air 555 Phase 1 and, according to prime contractor L3Harris, at the recent Avalon Air Show, the first aircraft will be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force (probably in the US) before the end of the year.
The MC-55A is based upon the Gulfstream G550 business jet, but with significant modifications for its intended ISREW role. This conversion has not come without risk, and the Air 555 program has suffered delays to its original timetable.
However, on the eve of the Avalon show, L3Harris’ President of ISR Jason Lambert, provided a program update to ADM.
“I’m happy to announce that the flight tests for the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were completed in July 2024 and in the fourth quarter Gulfstream obtained the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the MC-55A platform – a huge milestone of the program,” he said.
“All this is positioning us to deliver this capability to the RAAF this calendar year, 2025.”