Coastwatch Tender to Usher in New Age of Surveillance

The present five year contract, which begins to expire from mid 1995, is operated by Perth based Skywest Airlines. Part of the Ansett Group, Skywest has actually operated the contract in various forms since the inception of such, albeit then modest, activities back in the late seventies.

However, following the Amann Aviation fiasco in 1987, where a totally unknown tenderer actually won the complex contract from under the noses of a number of proven and operationally credible companies, only to not be able to achieve operational status by the appointed start up time. The government launched an inquiry into Coastwatch which not only saw it radically revised but also took it from the control of the Australian Federal Police and placed it with Customs.

At the time, the contract that Skywest had operated prior to Amann was extended to allow a retendering process, something which was not surprisingly won by Skywest which already had in situ the vast operational resources required to meet Custom’s needs.

Today Skywest operates a fleet of 19 aircraft dedicated to the Coastwatch from a total of around 50 commuter, charter and special mission aircraft. The contract provides direct employment for around 80 personnel, the vast majority of which are aircrew operating aboard four different aircraft types.

The present contract features four specific tasks. Task 1 is the visual search of northern Australia, our offshore islands and reefs plus other areas as required. Pa- trolling this area are eight Rockwell Shrikes with four held in reserve. The Shrikes routinely fly five hour missions, are crewed by a pilot and two observers and patrol at speeds varying between 130 and 150kts (240 & 280kmh). They feature bubble windows, a photo hatch and tactical navigation fit but carry no night vision or electronic (radar) aids.

Task 2 is offshore electronic and visual search with an emphasis on the Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ) surveillance requirements. In short this is getting into the blue water regime and is the province of Skywest’s three IAI Seascan twinjets. The Seascan is a heavily modified version of the more familiar Westwind II corporate jet and carries a Litton 504 surface surveillance radar, infrared detection system complete with video recording system and of course a sophisticated nav suite to suit. Normal crew comprises two pilots and two system operators/observers though the aircraft can carry up to six people over ranges of nearly 2400nm. The Seascan has an endurance of at least four hours on task which includes a 400nm (740km) transit to the area of interest and operates at around 400kts (740kmh).

Task 3 is interesting in that it hosts Coastwatch’s most effective unit and yet boasts just one single aircraft. That aircraft is actually a Squirrel helicopter based out of Horn Island at the tip of Cape York where the Torres Strait provides one of Australia’s busiest and most strategically important maritime transit zones.

The 641shp Turbomeca-powered Squirrel normally carries one or two observers, a pilot and has an endurance of up to two hours or can transit 240nm (445km) at up to 120kts (222kmh). The ability of the Squirrel to hover and land on remote islets is a major feature of its operation and ideal for the Torres Strait region.

Task 4 encompasses the electronic and visual search of inshore and other areas of interest by both day and night plus the carriage of officers and equipment for operational response purposes. For this role the STOL Nomad Searchmaster is ideal and the fleet comprises three such aircraft.

The Litton radar equipped Nomad is a single pilot aircraft that normally carries two to three observers and has an endurance in excess of five hours. Its ability to operate stealthy at low loiter speeds at low level and use unpaved remote strips is regarded a considerable asset. The downside is that unfortunately the Nomads are maintenance intensive, requiring a great amount of engine and airframe work to ensure the high operational readiness rate demanded by Coastwatch operations where each fleet unit must be available at least 27 days a month.

The Coastwatch operation itself is conducted from Customs HQ in Canberra with dedicated bases at Cairns, Darwin and Broome. Most of the flying is of a strategic nature and is planned well in advance to optimise crew/aircraft utilisation. Tactical and specific response flying however comprise missions which are the result of specific operational taskings, usually received without prior warning and which generally present a more demanding mission scenario than would strategic surveillance.

This flying effort normally results from specific intelligence being received from a diverse range of resources that alerts Coastwatch to a possible threat scenario. Information from Australia’s various intelligence services is pooled in an effort to ensure that if a vessel or aircraft of interest approaches Australia then it quickly comes to the attention of Coastwatch. This intelligence sharing system is finely honed with monthly meetings in Canberra between all concerned and has resulted over the past three years in logging nearly 250 illegal fishing incursions, intercepting 14 of the 15 illegal immigrant vessels entering Australian waters and in the past year alone the capture of some 15 tonnes of drugs with an estimated street value in excess of $100m.

Whilst during the eighties Coastwatch was primarily optimised for fishery and quarantine surveillance operations today its task is changing more towards an enhanced offshore role targeting drug and illegal entry (and exit) traffic. Fishery surveillance and quarantine is of course still important, it is just that the Asian drug trade seems to be targeting Australia even more nowadays then it was half a decade ago. So what of the future? Customs is not unnaturally keen to ensure that its new look Coastwatch tender is received sans the smell of the Amann fiasco.

The RFT was issued on December 1 with industry briefings scheduled for December 9. Industry responses will close on February 28 1994 with best and final offers being received no later than April 15 and a public announcement of the successful tenderer should be made by next August, though going on previous experience with government contracts this does seem a trifle optimistic. Furthermore, the contract is now for a more sensible nine years rather than the far too short five years of the past. This will enable operators to amortise expensive assets over a longer time and to write off an obviously expensive and complex establishment stage over a greater number of years thus ensuring better value for Customs and a higher probability of profitability for the operator. Skywest naturally would appear favourites as they already have an operating, and from all accounts, highly regarded operation in place with a mass of practical real world knowledge of what the client/s actually require. However they would have to change some fleet types which is where the opportunity exists for new entrants to take this $25-27m a year bid seriously. In fact, in an age of decimated aircraft/ systems purchases, Australia’s Coastwatch contract has gained the attention of many of the world’s major aerospace players.

Essentially, the new contract has, like today, four tasks though of a significantly different nature.

Task 1 will be a visual surveillance task primarily along the northern coastal strip from Exmouth to Sydney and will extend 50nm (93km) both inland and offshore. Search area is 8. 8 million sq nm annually and missions have been optimised to cover around 650nm (1200km) at around 130-150kts (240- 280kmh) at low to medium altitude.

Task 2 covers electronic offshore surveillance by both day and night in all weathers. Generally operated from between 15nm (28km) and up to 600nm (1100km) offshore (extending to the Barrier and Ashmore Reef regions) with normal searches out to around 300nm (560km). Aircraft must be able to electronically acquire a 5sq metre target (equivalent to a 10- 13m wooden boat) in Sea State 3 conditions. Aircraft in this category must be able to operate 300nm (560km) from base with ease and be capable of searching 50,000sq nm in under 12 hours. Search area is 43 million sq nm per annum and some basing may take place from Honiara.

Task 3 represents a combination of both visual and electronic surveillance and requires a radar capability the same as in Task 2 though the search area ranges from 50nm (93km) inland to just 200nm (370km) offshore searching some 32 million sq nm each year.

Task 4 is the helicopter operation in Torres Strait, only difference being that the helo must now have a night vision capability flying some 400hrs per annum with all weather day and limited night capability.

Coastwatch has cunningly avoided pushing a specific type of aircraft for each task. Rather it has provided a scenario where potential tenderers can mix and match various types to fulfill different requirements to meet the task in hand. It is envisaged that ideally two different fixed wing aircraft types will be employed although a third may be required. It is also envisaged that some of the potential tenderers may well choose to join forces once the industry brief takes place in an effort to pool their resources, reduce cost and improve their overall chances of selection.

Likely teaming, like the aircraft themselves, provides a smorgasbord of diversity though in Skywest’s case the only existing airborne asset that may endure, apart from the Squirrel, are the Seascan jets.

Numerous manufacturers have been busy extolling the virtues of their wares in Australia over the past year with anticipated front runners being Fairchild (Metro MMSA), Canadair (CL-415 amphibian) CASA (CN-235MP Persuader) plus a number of companies promoting upgrades of modded airframes ranging from corporate jets to King Airs, F27s, Dornier 228s and the Cessna Caravan which indeed looks very interesting for Task 1 ops.

By letting the task fit the solution, Coastwatch has left it to the bidders to come up with financially and operationally viable solutions for each of the four taskings required. Modern radar data processing and enhanced anti clutter software technology will for instance allow an otherwise old generation airframe (such as an F27 or similar) to mount a relatively sophisticated sensor suite that greatly extends the mission capability of the overall aircraft package. This way an inexpensive airframe can be traded off against a sophisticated electronic suite though as always the older aircraft will have to also carry the burden of high fuel and maintenance costs versus newer equipment. Either way, the eventual teamings both in terms of personalities and equipment offered will be interesting to say the least.

Commencement of the first of the new nine year contracts (Task 4) is slated for July 1995 with Task 1 ops commencing October 1995, Task 3 in January 1996 and finally Task 2 in July 1996. In the interim, existing Skywest assets will undertake the missions represented by the current contract tasks.

The new look Coastwatch contract represents an opportunity worth something in the order of $250m+ over a decade. A big and complex contract by any standard and one that will certainly be of significant long term gain for both Australian aviation and the future security of our all important territorial integrity.