Defence Sciences Expanding Their Scope

Economic pressure can be illustrated by comparing the costs of aircraft and the salary of the head of a research establishment. In 1954 when Sabres were a major investment of the Department of Defence, each Sabre cost 90 times the director’s salary. Today each F/A-18 costs 600 times a director’s salary. On that basis costs have increased by a factor of 6. 7, while the population has risen from 9. 3 million to 15 million – a factor of only 1. 6.

The responsibility for doing more with less money falls ultimately upon the individual scientist. But although the stringent economic climate requires Defence scientists to be more flexible and more resourceful, the benefits to the community at large are now more widely understood and appreciated.

DSTO traces its origins to the setting up in Melbourne, in 1910, of a small chemical laboratory to give analytical and technical support to handlers of explosives.

A major impetus to development came in 1946 when the UK and Australia were signatories to the Joint Project which constructed and managed the rocket range at Woomera.

The Defence Research Centre Salisbury grew out of support services to Woomera and today comprises three major laboratories – the Advanced Engineering Laboratory, the Electronics Research Laboratory and the Weapons Systems Research Laboratory.

Advanced Engineering Laboratory, which employs 1204 staff of whom 134 are scientists and research engineers, engages in engineering feasibility studies and the development, design and manufacture of prototype systems and equipment in the mechanical and electronic engineering fields. It also provides higher engineering support to the Services and assistance and technology transfer to defence-related industries and maintains an advanced engineering technology base.

Electronics Research Laboratory, with a staff of 465, of whom 85 are scientists, is concerned primarily with R&D in radar, electronics, infra-red physics, optics, electro-optics, electronic warfare and surveillance.

Weapons Systems Research Laboratory, whose staff of 508 includes 96 scientists and research engineers, is responsible for R&D. related to aeroballistic aspects of weapons and weapon systems, rocket and gun propulsion systems, combat data and display systems, guidance and control systems for weapons, underwater acoustics and detection systems, and the integration of systems.

In Melbourne, the Aeronautical Research Laboratories, which employ 488 staff of whom 221 are scientists and research engineers, provide research support primarily to the Defence Force and the defence industry, in fields including aerodynamics, aircraft materials, structural integrity and efficiency of aircraft, analysis and integration of aeronautical systems and on air-breathing propulsion systems and engine/airframe integration and performance. It also assists the Australian Government and the Department of Aviation in some of these fields.

The Materials Research Laboratories staff of 578, among them 202 research specialists, provide support in fields including organic and inorganic materials, metallurgy, explosives, ordnance and terminal ballistics, high energy lasers, camouflage and protection of personnel and equipment.

Many Australians are aware of the major DSTO achievements – of Ankara, and the Jindalee over-the-horizon radar which is proposed for operational conversion in the near future. But for every team effort that makes headlines there are hundreds of projects pushing back frontiers and finding new ways to maximise the Defence dollar.

One such research area that is now paying dividends is the work MRL has done to enhance F-111 engine reliability. Hot gases attacking the first stage blades in the TF30 engines of F-111C tactical fighter bombers were costing $200,000 a year when the RAAF went to the Materials Research Laboratories for help.

The problem had been raised with US experts at the TF30 Component Improvement Program conferences but they considered that a search for an alternative blade coating would be uneconomical. Nevertheless, RAAF commenced a trial of a platinum-modified aluminide coating and asked MAL to collaborate in this trial and to study all aspects of high temperature corrosion in gas-turbine engines.

During flight, combustion gases heat the first stage of the turbine to between 700 and 1100 deg C while the wheel rotates up to 40,000 rpm. Ingested sea salt exacerbates corrosion. If the conventional aluminide coating is breached and the superalloy substrate exposed the blades must be discarded. Operation is no longer safe.

When the trials began, TF30 engines were overhauled after 1000 hours flying time. Maintenance engineers were then discarding blades at a rate of 95 percent.

MRL’s Surface Protection Technology Group analysed blades from the trial engine. After 500 hours, the conventional aluminide coating was breached, while the platinum-modified aluminide was still intact. Checked again after 1,000 hours, it was still effective.

The platinum-modified coating is now used throughout the RAAF’s F-111 C fleet and the US Navy have adopted this coating in their F-14 Tomcats largely as a result of the RAAF/MRL trial.

The platinum-modified coated blades will be removed by the RAAF after 750 hours and recoated with little or no wastage of blades. Savings in maintenance costs are estimated to be up to $1 million per year. Furthermore defence preparedness will be greatly improved.

The team continues to participate in trials of alternative coatings in other engines and is currently comparing six coatings side by side in the T56 engine of a P-3C Orion aircraft.

Differences in performance between coatings are usually. apparent to the naked eye, but only detailed scrutiny with an electron microscope will reveal which coating gives the optimum combination of performance and cost. With each result the team’s laboratory research yields greater insight into the corrosion process, into oxidation kinetics, alloy thermodynamics, and diffusion and life extension moves from the “try it and see” stage of its history towards an exact science.