Defence Update

A sidelight to the Black Hawk order is that all 14 of the new troop-carrying helicopters which will carry a whole Army section of 1 O fully equipped men with an 85Ib pack and ammunition, are destined to go to No9 Squadron, presently based at Amberley. It is the RAAF’s intention to move No9 Squadron to Townsville where it will provide close support for the Army’s two Operational Deployment Force battalions and their supporting units. The move by the squadron will depend on getting the technical equipment in place and improving the existing hangar used by the composite No35 Squadron which operates Caribou light transports and UH-1H Bell Iroquois helicopters. The technical work is estimated to cost$19 million. Additional married quarters for No9 Squadron personnel and their families also is being sought in the Townsville area.

The delivery timetable for the first 14 Black Hawks is for the first to come from the United States as a fully assembled prototype in August 1987. The remainder will be assembled by Hawker de Havilland at Bankstown, who will serve as the prime sub-contractor in Australia to Sikorsky. The special RAAF requirements include an HF radio, automatic hover, an IR (Infrared) suppressor on the exhaust and a winch for troops and for search and rescue (SAR) and medivac roles.

While the 22 helicopters so far ordered will be powered by General Electric T700 turboshafts Australian Aviation believes that the DoD has asked Rolls Royce for a last-minute proposal on supplying the new RTM322 engine for the Black Hawks. The RTM322 is being developed jointly by Rolls Royce and Turbomeca and is presently being flight-tested in a modified Black Hawk in the UK. The RTM322 is more powerful than the CT? and according to Rolls Royce is also less expensive to maintain in addition to being more fuel efficient owing to its more recent design. If viable, the engine may be fitted to later delivery batches of the Black Hawk.

The Navy Seahawk’s delivery timetable is for two aircraft assembled in the US to arrive in March 1988. The basic reason why the RAAF is getting its machines first is that they are less complicated than the Seahawks, which will have a special avionics package to provide for the targeting, surveillance and ASW roles when operating from the FFG-guided missile frigates.

The Navy currently has four FFG frigates – HMAS Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney and Darwin. Two Australian frigates to FFG design are being built at Williamstown Naval Dockyard, Vic and will be commissioned in the early 1990s. The order of an additional eight Seahawks is designed to overcome earlier worries that the first order of eight was insufficient for operations, training and attrition.

After the first two Seahawks are delivered from the US, Hawker de Havilland will take over – as it will have done with the Black Hawks, the assembly and final testing of the remaining 14 helicopters. The third Seahawk is expected to be delivered in August 1988 and thereafter delivery should be ·at about one a month until completion of the order in October 1989.

It is then that the RAAF, while keeping an eye out for new developments in helicopters such as the US LHX, NATO NH-90 proposals and the Tilt-Rotor Osprey concept by Bell and Boeing in the US, hopes to begin with follow-up Black Hawk orders. At present it seems an order of at least 62 new RAAF helicopters is envisaged.

This is subject to the proviso that the Air Force retains the right to operate utility helicopters for Army support rather than the Army itself. This is the subject of a current study.

The Navy’s Seahawks will be stationed at the Naval Air Station at Nowra. It is planned that following testing and training, two flights (two helicopters each) will be turned over to the Fleet Commander and be ready for operational service at sea from January 1989. While the FFG frigates are designed to carry two helicopters, the RAN is only likely to embark one per ship in peacetime. Trials are meanwhile being held at sea with Navy Squirrel helicopters serving in the training role.

The Black Hawk helicopters will provide greater mobility for the Army’s premier fighting units and will be concentrated on supporting the Townsville-based Task Force. The lack of helicopter support for the ODF was criticised sharply by a Parliamentary Committee on Defence last year.

The return of eight Iroquois helicopters from peacekeeping duties has also boosted the RAAF squadrons this year. No5 Squadron at Fairbairn, ACT has had its UH-1H numbers boosted from seven to twelve. This squadron has the major helicopter training role for the RAAF and also provides some operational support for the Army in NSW and Victoria. No9 Squadron is expected to retain nine helicopters for the time being while No12 Squadron (flying medium lift Chinooks at Amberley) may also get some for Army support in south east Queensland. No35 Squadron at Townsville is expected to add three machines to total 11 helicopters before the end of the year.

In his announcement of the order of 22 more Sikorsky choppers on May 1 after a late night Cabinet meeting, Mr Beazley said the order would inject $120 million worth of new work into the Australian aerospace industry. He said the Black Hawks, specifically designed for tactical operations over great distances and inhospitable terrain typical of northwestern Australia, firstly will supplement and eventually replace the Bell Iroquois UH-1 H helicopters which saw service in the Vietnam conflict. Highly manoeuvrable, the Black Hawk can fly close to the ground and thus improve its survivability under battle conditions. It also can lift medium weight equipment like the Army’s new Hamel gun.

Mr Beazley rejected criticism of the Black Hawk’s safety record, saying it was impressive. However, for the second time in two years, the US Army’s 700-odd Black Hawks were grounded recently, but of 23 major accidents over eight years and 4,000,000 hours flying time, only one crash has been put down to mechanical failure.

The Cabinet submission is believed to have argued that the Black Hawk offered superior operational performance. But the Minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce, Senator John Button fought hard for the Super Puma, contending that Aeropatiale’s offer on offsets (refer to Newsdesk last issue), technology transfers and long-term collaboration offered Australia the better deal.

Mr Beazley said the purchase of the additional eight Seahawks with their sensors, weapon systems and associated equipment, would greatly enhance the RAN’s capabilities for anti-shipping and anti-submarine warfare. The extra Seahawks were being obtained 12 months earlier than anticipated and would reduce the cost of them by enabling continuity of production both in the US and with Australian industry, he said. The purchase also would ensure the same aircraft configuration as the initial helicopters. Mr Beazley said the additional work worth $120 million from the two new contracts was consistent with the Government’s policy of enhancing the abilities of the local defence industry in supporting the Australian Defence Force.

Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, Hawker de Havilland, the Government Aircraft Factories, Computer Sciences of Australia and several electronic companies already had benefitted from similar work due to the initial Seahawk order for the RAN. These companies also would be involved in the Black Hawk programme.

The Minister said the competitive contract negotiations between Aerospatiale and Sikorsky which began in December 1985, had produced considerable benefits for Australian industry including a significant exchange of new helicopter technology. The negotiations had aimed at, in part, carefully defining the performance of the competing aircraft and enhancing the scope and quality of the Offset packages for the Australian industry.

Industry and Service teams of about 20 personnel responsible for the local assembly project would be associated with the manufacture of the first RAAF Black Hawk at United Technology’s Stratford, Connecticut plant. (Sikorsky is a subsidiary of United Technologies).

When announcing the new contracts, accompanied by the First Assistant Secretary of the Defence Industry and Meteriel Policy Division of the Defence Department, Dr Malcolm McIntosh and the RAAF’s Helicopter Project Director, Group Captain Terry Wilson, Mr Beazley intimated that he would be urging the Government to consider a major change in Defence procurement policies. He said the complete order of the helicopters the RAAF expected to require in the coming years could not be addressed in one order at present because of funding difficulties in the Five Year Defence (rolling) Program (FYDP).

Mr Beazley said it was a disadvantage not being able to negotiate on the full range of what the Department wanted to acquire, but there were limits as to funding on what could be achieved when discussions with Cabinet colleagues had to be on a year-to-year basis. This was the standing practice but it had a major disadvantage for the Armed Services and for the Australian defence industry. There was a need for a review not only because of the cost disadvantages to the Services but also because of the importance of the industrial component.

The flyaway cost of the new Black Hawks is about $10 million each according to RAAF sources.

Sikorsky’s All package includes the introduction of new technologies and skills in a number of areas and the creation of new business opportunities for the aerospace industry. Sikorsky has offered to establish a Regional Service Centre in Australia as a new commercial venture. This may be set up in Central Queensland, possibly at Rockhampton or Townsville. It is planned as the major centre in the South Pacific for servicing and repairing Black Hawk, Seahawk and other Sikorsky helicopters operating in this region and also would be available for any other helicopter business. It would fully service the RAAF and RAN helicopters independently.

The Sikorsky manufacturing/assembly proposal for the Black Hawks and the Seahawks involves:

• Composites Fabrication – for blades and fuselage structures.

• Design and development of helicopter maintenance trainers.

• Avionics design and development.

• Involvement in new programs such as the LHX light helicopter in which Sikorsky is teaming with Boeing.

• Components for engines and transmissions and complete units.

• Local purchase by Sikorsky of a range of electronic and

Electro-mechanical equipment for a number of suppliers.

Several Australian aerospace companies are set to be suppliers to Sikorsky in the initial Seahawk order and this will now be expanded. Before the latest agreements Sikorsky already had placed contracts in Australia worth more than $25 million.

Under the All package, Australian companies will have the opportunity to compete for business in the USA in a market that provides about half the total helicopter requirements in the world.

Sikorsky is expecting the US Armed Forces to build up its orders of its Black Hawk helicopters from more than 700 at

Present to some 2000.

(Max Hawkins Is the Editor of Defence Industry Newsletter. )