Defence Update

But it also remains to be seen if the “wish list” of new equipment possibilities will be fulfilled over time. The FSR documents list, for example, the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) to provide two operational Over-the-Horizon Radars (OTHR) by the mid to late 1990s, with a co-ordination centre at Edinburgh, SA and the matter of whether a third station is added to be reviewed late in the 1990s. The contract with Telecom was signed recently. The plan proposes the introduction of Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft starting later in the decade. There is optimism that current developments and prospects in AEW could provide Australia with a highly efficient system at reasonable cost. The chance of the RAAF acquiring AWACS type planes has long since gone, if it was ever really a possibility. The cost was too great.

Like JORN and to a lesser extent AEW&C, the upgrade of the P-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, has been progressed gradually in recent years. The FSR appears to approve further enhancement to overall surveillance capability of these Edinburgh based planes.

Military aviation these days extends to the Navy (although in Australia’s case in a declining way with the end of the aircraft carrier era-basically the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s-and the Army The FSR provides for a dualpurpose ship to be acquired late in the decade to replace the training ship HMAS Jervis Bay, and act as a roll-on/roll-off support vessel capable of operating helicopters. As those helicopters will have a different role to the targeting and ASW missions of the Seahawk helicopters destined for the FFG frigate fleet, there are likely to be opportunities in a few years for manufacturers other than Sikorsky to bid for the helo” order,

It also is quite possible that the DDG destroyer replacement, which is to be based on a modification of the ANZAC frigates, will be expected to use helicopters. The ANZAC Ship is to operate a Seahawk type helicopter, but the actual order has not been placed yet.

Whirly-bird manufacturers also will be interested some years on if it is decided that the replacement for the Fremantle Class patrol boats with more capable offshore patrol vessels should operate a small helicopter.

The Australian Army is already looking for a replacement for its light helicopter and also is keen to eventually push for a fresh order of Blackhawk choppers to provide a second company lift capability.

As for the RAAF, we have already mentioned the P-3C Orion upgrade which includes updating its onboard systems to improve surveillance roles, and some form of confirmation that AEW & aircraft finally will be ordered.

The Force Structure Review also has planned for No 37 Squadron’s C-130E model Hercules to be replaced by a later model in time. The other Hercules squadron at Richmond (No 36 Squadron) flies H models,

No 33 Squadron, operating six Boeing 707s, with four also assigned to tanker roles, is to move from Richmond base, NSW to Amberley. Qld probably in 1992-93. The Caribou transport force is to drop seven aircraft and come down to 14 in all, based at Townsville for Army support.

The FSR aims to get longer life out of the F-111 strike reconnaissance and F/A-18 fighter jets. The F-111 group gradually has had a variety of upgrades approved, and these were programmed to extend the aircraft’s operational life to about the year 2010. It seems unlikely that the FSR makes any change, but simply confirms what was already in progress.

However, both the F-111Cs and the F/A-18 Hornets are to have their usage reduced by about five per cent. In the case of the F-111s maybe this is just to make sure their life will extend for nearly another 20 years.

As to the F/A-18s, it could reasonably be expected that they would last to around 2115, and if the airframe holds up, weapons systems mods could even extend that time. There appears to be some incongruity in cutting the hours of the two front-line combat planes, and at the same time finding time for Air Force Reservists to fly these aircraft. Less flying for regular air crew?

In any case, Australian Defence Force and RAAF planners today, and over the next decade or so, will have their thinking caps on as to replacements for the F-111Cs, the F/A-18s, the P-3Cs, the C-130s and the Caribous, not to mention one type that doesn’t seem to have received any special attention in the FSR-the Macchi 326 jet trainer/lead-in fighter replacement.

It should be looming large in current thinking because the current Macchis can hardly last through this decade