Defence Update – AEW&C Studies Underway

The Project Definition Study should lead to a Major Capability Submission (MCS) in 1995 after which Government approval would be sought to start the acquisition phase of the $80m plus project in 1996-97, possibly announced in the May 1996 Budget. If such a schedule is achieved, the first aircraft could enter service just before the end of the decade.

The AEW&C Project Manager is Wing Commander Jon Blacklock, an Air Defence Officer with Force Development experience. He works for the RAAF Materiel Branch, but is responsible to the capability sponsor, Air Commodore Errol Walker, the Director General, Force Development (Air) in the Headquarters of the ADF.

But on the operations side, the ADF at present only has one officer in Australia, Squadron Leader Peter Krieg, who has undergone recent AEW&C training. S/L Krieg (Airspace Control 1 in HQADF) is the Desk Officer responsible for AEW&C with the Force Development (Air) organisation.

He completed a tour at Naval Air Station, Norfolk, USA where he qualified as an E-2C crew member, and became an E-2C systems instructor prior to taking up his current appointment early in 1993.

Another RAAF Air Defence Officer is now on exchange with the US Navy after converting to Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes. And three RAAF Air Defence Officers have been forewarned to expect posting before too long to the United Kingdom where they will train on Royal Air Force Boeing E-3D AWAC aircraft, and then do a tour as full crew members of a squadron.

A Royal Australian Navy officer also is expected to go on exchange for a similar posting soon. All of these officers are expected to become involved with the AEW&C Project at some later stage.

Air Commodore Walker is keen to get the project up and running as quickly as possible. And he wants Australian industry fully involved.

“In the first few months of the PDS the team will be looking at the concept and operational needs of the Australian Defence Force,” he said. “The second phase of the PDS will address the solutions to the problems, the operational requirements, options and costs.

“Then we plan to do a Major Capability Submission which would lead to the acquisition phase,” A/C Walker said. “I want to get Australian industry engaged so that they will be in a position to support the project once it runs.

“We want industry to start thinking about the project now because there’s a lot of work to be done on how they can contribute. ” Air Commodore Walker said the project was so big that he would like to see Australian firms acting together as teams rather than individually. He said he wanted to dispel the feeling that the AEW&C Project was now listed as four years out in the New Major Capital Equipment Proposals (“The Pink Book”), and would go no further.

“There is a lot of political and military support for the AEW&C Project to go ahead,” the Director General said. “I’m optimistic that if we do our job properly as I intend we should, we will get the capability. ” Air Commodore Walker, Wing Commander Blacklock and Squadron Leader Krieg all emphasised that it was an ADF project, not just simply a RAAF air defence one as in days gone by. When the project came to fruition, Navy and Army personnel also would be involved with the AEW&C squad- ron expected to be based in Northern Australia.

Engineers and scientists from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) will be heavily involved from the start. The project team also is expected to examine and then recommend an independent firm of consultants to provide the expertise not covered by the ADF.

DSTO’s involvement in the PDS is being coordinated by Dr Max Lees of the Microwave Division at Salisbury, South Australia. The DSTO Melbourne headquartered Aeronautical Research Laboratory’s Air Operations Division, led by Dr Roger Lough, also has a key role in providing ideas and concepts based on research over many years.

Dr Lough’s division recently took delivery of new computing tools which will be used to model air defence systems, and provide significant information to the project team.

Last year DSTO carried out a survey on the potential to maximise Australian industry involvement (AII) in the procurement of AEW&C for the RAAF. This study suggested that while local industry did not have the capacity in country to develop an AEW&C capability, it did have the expertise and capacity to carry out a lot of the systems integration activities. This is important for the sustainability aspects after the system reaches operational service.

But there is a lot of work to be done before that. At various times since the early to mid 1970s, the question of acquiring airborne early warning and control systems for the RAAF to extend the capabilities of RAAF interceptors against detected and identified “intruders” in our air and sea space has been debated.

Often when it seemed there might be some positive action, the proposals were deferred. Lack of funds was the usual “excuse”. Later the Government/Defence Department “line” developed into saying that they were waiting for technology advances that would be cost effective.

In more recent years it has been argued that the emerging phased array radar technology, as against the traditional rotodome sensor radars, eventually would provide that cost effective solution instead of the expensive AWAC E-3 Sentry flown by the USAF, and later by the British, Saudi, French and NATO forces. Many years ago it was estimated that four AWACS would cost Australia $1. 2 billion. But quite recently it seems to have been accepted in ministerial and departmental circles that there is no point in waiting longer for emerging technology in the hope of finding a still cheaper solution.

“As we see it, phased array radar, from the technology point of view, is here now in three platforms, and we don’t expect there will be any more significant developments in that technology in the near future,” Sqn Ldr Krieg explained. Included in this overview is the fact that the US Navy late last year cancelled the E-X project which was aimed at replacing the E-2C Hawkeyes in the fleet. The USN now plans to extend the life of its E-2C to 2015.

So the RAAF team eventually will consider platforms ranging from the large 707 or 767 jet transports to large turboprops like the C-130 Hercules, down to small commuter aircraft like the Saab 340.

Radar sensor technology in the phased array range are available in Israel Aircraft Industries’ 707 Phalcon, Ericsson Defence Systems of Sweden’s Eyieye radar, and the USA’s Westinghouse Electronics Corporation (WEC) MESA phased array radar.

The IAI Phalcon has conformal arrays forward of the wing and composite front and rear radar elements. Chile is reported to have ordered two such systems in reduced form, and should receive the first one later this year. South Africa is believed to be interested in purchasing three similarly reduced systems which have just one conformal array forward of the wing on each side, and no front or rear radar elements. They will not give a 360 degree sweep; more of the order of 220 deg.

The Eyieye radar is in production for the Swedish Defence Force on a Saab 340 commuter platform. The system sits in an 8m centreline mounted pod above the fuselage. Radar data is proceeded into track form on board the data linked to a ground processing system.

The MESA system being developed by Westinghouse has the phased array radar housed in underwing pods outboard of the engines on a C-130J Hercules platform. The system is expected to fly in limited form on a BAC-111 technology demonstrator later in the year.

The rotodome systems/platforms likely to be considered are: (a) The Grumman E-2C Hawkeye Group 11, employing the Martin Marietta APS-145 UHF band radar. The earlier system was the APS-138; (b) a Lockheed C-130 or P-3 Orion airframe with a Martin Marietta APS-145 radar, (c) a Boeing 767 airframe with an AWACS system as ordered by the Japanese Defence Force.

With the cancellation of the USN E-X program, the chances of other systems evolving seems to have declined. The cancellation could see the demise, at least for the present, of Boeing’s diamond wing with phased arrays embedded in the wings, and the Lockheed S-3 Viking based system with a triangular phased array at top.

Thomson (France) have been working on a number of concepts including phased array but little has been heard of them since the French Air Force selected the E-3D AWACS, and the French Navy bought E-2Cs.

So the Project Definition Study should resolve the issue of which is the best type of sensor to meet Australian mission requirements; ie the utility of the existing rotodome technology as against the emerging phased array technology. The project team is expected to investigate all the op- tions during an overseas tour later in the year. The visit is expected to include discussions with companies who may be able to provide independent consultancy services.

On the question of program costs, Wing Commander Blacklock said when the system capabilities to handle the tasks envisaged had been fully identified the PDS would have to come up with a costed range of options. Whether they coincoded with long range planning estimates on costs remained to be seen.

As mentioned Australian industry participation is regarded as vital. As Squadron Leader Krieg outlined: “Our preferred option is to come up with the specifications of what we want the system to do, and the range of sensors, and then ask industry to put forward proposals as to how they think it could be done. ” Max Hawkins is the Managing Editor of the fortnightly magazine, Australian Defence Report.