Fleet support

Many of these operators are specialists in their field, while others like Raytheon and Pel-Air conduct their ADF support functions as elements of much wider operations.

Whereas Raytheon is a multi-national corporation with ‘reach-back’ capabilities for support from its US parent when required, smaller Pel-Air is a local company which is fully owned by regional airline Rex.

EWTS

With the electronic spectrum becoming an increasingly important element of military operations, a major part of a ship’s training is exposing its radar and electronic support measures (ESM) operators and systems to various types of electronic ‘attack’ in the form of simulated radar guided missile attacks or jamming. This usually occurs after a ship’s maintenance or upgrade period, in a workup period prior to deployment, as part of an exercise, or when a new capability is encountered that needs to be trained against.

Raytheon Australia operates a Learjet 35A (pictured above) as the main element of its Electronic Warfare Training Services (EWTS) 10 year contract to the ADF. The Lear is regularly tasked to provide high fidelity EW training to RAN ships and their operators in order to keep current with threats. The methods of airborne electronic warfare include everything from basic chaff and noise jamming, to complex electronic attack techniques that employ the latest digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) technology. To effectively counter these technologies, ADF crews need to regularly experience them in an operational-like environment, hence the need for EWTS.

Based at Nowra in close proximity to the Navy’s main east coast training area, the aircraft can be deployed to anywhere in Australia or the wider region to support Navy vessels.

“The taskings of the aircraft are organised by Navy Fleet HQ,” the RAN’s contract manager, Matt Sullivan, told Australian Aviation. “If a ship is working up or has identified the need for sorties or a training requirement, Fleet HQ will raise a tasking with Raytheon. A sortie request will typically come during a ship’s workup prior to deployment, during an exercise, or after an upgrade. Those exercises may or may not be in Australian waters – part of the contract conditions are that there will be provision made for some overseas deployments and for allied overseas operators. ” It’s fair to assume that, prior to a ship’s deployment to an operational area, the aim of EWTS will be to expose the crew to the various electronic conditions the ship can expect to encounter in the area it is deploying to, from both potential threats and, where possible, allied frequencies as well.

Information on the spectra used by potential threats is usually shared among allies and coalition partners operating in these regions in order to bolster threat libraries.

The aircraft flies, on average, about 25 sorties per month for the Navy for an annual total of up to 600 hours.

“Sorties are planned fairly far in advance so Raytheon can plan for maintenance periods etc,” Sullivan added. “Raytheon also has an interim aircraft which can be used as backup if the primary is grounded – the interim aircraft was used while the current capability was being developed. ” Dubbed ‘Smarter Crow’, the Learjet’s systems include an Electronic Warfare Simulation Technologies (EWsT) Chameleon IIIB dual-channel, DRFM based Radar EA signal generator that can be automatically connected to any two of four high powered travelling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs);fore and aft broad-band horn antennas housed under low loss radomes which, when coupled to the TWTAs give continuous radar electronic attack coverage from 0. 8 to 18GHz; an EWsT RSS-8000/P radar threat simulator system connected to a high powered pulsed TWTA providing TWTAbased radar threat simulation; an ArgonST AN/DPT-2B magnetron-based high power radar threat simulator system; a Rockwell- Collins AN/UST-106 communications jamming system; an internal AN/ALE-43 chaff dispensing system; a 0. 5 to 18 GHz electronic support (ES) receiver; and a CSC Australia developed mission management and recording system (MMRS).

The aircraft can operate jamming missions at stand-off ranges, can simulate an anti-submarine or anti-ship maritime patrol aircraft, or alternatively can emulate attack profiles representative of strike aircraft or subsonic anti-ship missiles.

“This is a very smart aircraft and a unique capability globally,” said Raytheon’s EWTS program manager, David Hutchison. “It can jam anything from 2mhz to 18ghz, and is without doubt the world’s most capable civil registered EW aircraft. ” And apart from the various electronic systems, the aircraft’s MMRS also gives the EWTS the ability to record and play back sorties for additional training value for EWTS personnel as well as the ship’s system operators. The aircraft is typically crewed by two pilots and one or two tactical coordinators.

Despite there being interest from overseas operators in the EWTS and the capabilities it offers, there are no commitments as yet. “This is not a cheap capability to develop – people want to develop their own until they find out how much it really costs,” Raytheon’s group general manager of Aerospace Systems, David Gillespie, said.

“The good thing is, we’re system agnostic.

There is actually no Raytheon kit onboard the aircraft. It adds to our ability to do the job and our flexibility. ” Navy officials debrief with Raytheon each month, reporting on the number of sorties flown and their effectiveness. “We also have a quarterly meeting with the stake holders where we do a periodic assessment of where we’re going,” said Sullivan. “It’s safe to say that Navy is very satisfied with the capability and the service – Raytheon is doing everything that’s required of them. ”

RMI

Raytheon Australia also operates the Navy’s pilot Retention and Motivation Initiative (RMI) through the provision of three Agusta A 109 Power helicopters at Nowra.

The aircraft are operated on a ‘turnkey’ basis, with all maintenance and logistics support for the flight provided by Raytheon, to assist recently graduated aircrews to transition from the basic AS 355BA Squirrel to more advanced helicopters such as the S-70B Seahawk, SK-50 Sea King and the forthcoming MRH 90, and to retain their operational skills on a platform which is considerably cheaper to operate than operational types.

The issue of pilot retention came to a head in recent years with the unavailability of operational types due to ongoing upgrades, groundings due to maintenance issues, or in the case of the SH‑2G(A) Seasprite, project cancellation due to certification issues. To this end, the RMI flight was stood up late last year while a more advanced training helicopter and system is acquired under Air 9000 Phase 7 early next decade, and is tasked with providing 1500 hours per year to Navy pilots.

“We have three aircraft in service on the state register, and that’s giving us a two-line flying program per day,” Commander Greg Tindal told AA. “We’re contracted for 1500 hours per year, and we’re getting all the motivation and flying skills into our aviators that we can through that process. The A 109 is obviously a more modern aircraft than the Squirrel – it’s twin engined and has a glass cockpit, so it’s a great interim measure for the students who are awaiting operational postings off conversion. ” “RMI bridges the gap between training aircraft and the operational aircraft,” Raytheon’s RMI program director, David Cunningham explained. “The contract also has Air 9000 Phase 7 applications in that it gives us interaction experience with Navy, a better understanding of customer’s expectations, and an idea of the true costs of operating the aircraft – for example it has different wear and tear compared to civil use. ” The Navy has also put the A 109s to work supporting minor surface units as they work up prior to deployments or exercises.

“We’re also getting a second benefit in that we’re actually helping the fleet out in doing workups for the patrol boats and minor war vessels out of Cairns and Darwin,” CMDR Tindal added. “The ships have to qualify for vertical replenishment (vertrep) and personnel transfers, and often there’s not a Navy aircraft available. Cairns and Darwin are not places where we normally have aircraft, so we’ll deploy one or two of the A 109s up there and some of the young aviators with them, and they’ll go out and work the ships up and do some of their training. So it’s a mutual benefit – the students get their flying and get a lot of experience out of it, and the ships get their qualifications done as well. ” The A 109s also have become a common sight at the ADF’s various recruitment activities in the past 12 months, and also provide VIP transport.

“Now that the RMI is in a mature state, it’s used a lot for transport between Sydney, Canberra and Nowra for high ranking officers,” said CMDR Tindal. “We’re also using it a lot more in the recruiting area of defence to interact with the public, and sending it along to activities out there of significance such as major events to support the recruiting activities. They’re a great little platform to do that sort of activity. ” Whether the operation of RMI puts Raytheon in a strong position for an Air 9000 Phase 7 bid is yet to be determined, but there’s no doubt the company is gaining a lot of experience in operating such a capability.

“It’s probably too early to say whether A 109 is the right aircraft for Phase 7,” Cunningham added. “The biggest risk in the project will be the costs of through-lifesupport, not in the platform itself, and we believe we’re gaining a lot of experience in this area with RMI. ”

PEL-AIR

In contrast to the multinational Raytheon, local company Pel-Air’s contribution may not have the fidelity of some of Raytheon’s offerings, but they are no less important.

Pel-Air runs a small fleet of Learjets and IAI Westwind business jets in a number of support roles for the Navy as well as the RAAF.

“They operate the aircraft on a monthly standing charge, and then there’s a set rate for flying hours,” SQNLDR Jim Stewart said. “With our programming, we take care of any surges – it’s not a set rate of effort that translates across any week or month – there are peaks and troughs. ” Some of the Pel-Air services include target towing for surface-to-air gunnery, close in weapons systems, surface-to-air and air-to-air missile firings; aircraft for radar and weapons system calibration; range clearance and surveillance for live missile firings; simulated fighter ground attack profiles; aircraft for fighter, air defence controller training and tactical radar targeting; and participation in multiple threat exercises and simulated strike roles.

“The bulk of their function is providing a low level training capability,” said SQNLDR Stewart. “You don’t expect a Learjet to perform like a Hawk or an F/A-18, but it does provide a cost effective training tool for a lower level of training that allows our very scarce resources to go a hell of a lot further. Add to that the experienced fast jet pilots recruited to fly for Pel-Air, and we really maximise the capability of that fairly modest Learjet performance. ” Target towing is one of the most interesting aspects of the services provided by Pel-Air. “The target towing is for live weapons, including the AIM-9M Sidewinder fired by the Hawk and F-111,” SQNLDR Stewart explained. “Obviously the newer ASRAAM and AMRAAM are out of the question because those weapons are far too capable, but for the simpler generation of weapons such as the AIM-9, the older versions of RBS-70 SAM, and certainly Navy guns from 5 inch down to 50 cal, they fly a fair bit of that. We stream targets out from 18,000 out to 30,000ft behind the aircraft depending on the weapon, so as you can imagine, target towing is a not quite a realistic target, but it’s a good effective target for calibrating weapons and working a ship up, and giving the crews faith in their weapons system. ” The Learjets will also be used for strike profiling during Navy ship workup periods and exercises. “For strike profiling for Navy, the Lears will replicate a fighter ground attack or a strike aircraft, and they may well fly anti-ship missile profiles,” SQNLDR Stewart added. “Back when we had the Kiwi Skyhawks to train with, the Lear would come in at the standard range for a striker, and it would have one or two A-4s ‘under the wings’ which would be ‘launched’ and come streaking in at Mach speed to simulate the anti-ship missiles. The Learjets are also excellent for basic training courses for fighter controllers, both for RAAF air combat officers and for Navy air intercept controllers, they do all the introductory air intercept profiling. ” The Pel-Air aircraft are also employed on range clearance work during live missile firings for the Navy and the RAAF where the aircraft will patrol the firing range to ensure no vessels enter the area. And another important role is during large force exercises, when the Lears will often be used to fly in company with F/A-18s or F-111s to increase the number of aircraft in a strike package.

“If we have a war exercise, they are extra pieces of flying metal that can bulk out the strike package which pushes the defenders to extend themselves and stretch them a bit,” SQNLDR Stewart explained. “And as approved by the fleet and air commanders, we also carry senior officers around if and when required – certainly when civil air isn’t available or if an officer has a tight schedule, they’re called upon. ” Naturally, due to the demanding nature of the flying undertaken by Pel-Air and Raytheon, experienced military fast jet pilots are required to operate the aircraft.

“The demand we have is for experienced fast jet aircrew because of those roles that they carry out, and they carry out missions in all weather, and at very low level,” SQNLDR Stewart said.

“Obviously CASA doesn’t really feel comfortable without anyone but experienced, ex Air Force pilots. Additionally, some of the work they also carry out requires certain security clearances, so the aircrew must be able to gain those clearances. “