In training

Most notable was confirmation that the DMO intends to “procure each project using a privately financed public private partnership project delivery model”. At this initial stage, program officials are “seeking written feedback from industry on whether there are any features of the projects which could have a significant negative impact on the feasibility or value for money implications of the PPP delivery model,” an issue which is likely to be particularly relevant in the current economic environment.

Air 5428 Phase 1

Air 5428 will see the replacement of the ADF’s flight screening and basic flying training programs currently undertaken at BFTS (Basic Flying Training School) by BAE Systems Australia at Tamworth, and the advanced training provided by 2FTS at Pearce in WA.

The industry brief states that the project will provide the RAAF, Army and Navy with a new “student-centric” fixed wing pilot training system which will be capable of “adopting new approaches to selection and training,” and which will “be an evolution of the existing pilot training system, combining current strengths and corporate knowledge with new training technologies in order to achieve cost effective and world class pilot training. ” The new PTS will provide aircraft suitable for flight screening, basic and advanced flying training to ‘wings’ standard, from where fast jet streamed pilots move to the Hawk lead-in-fighter, and rotary wing bound pilots would move to the Joint Helicopter School which will be delivered under the related Air 9000 Phase 7 program. Other requirements include QFI training for CFS (including pilot and instructor refresher courses), evaluation for foreign military pilot transfers to the RAAF, and an aircraft platform for the RAAF’s Roulettes display team, the Forward Air Control Development Unit (FACDU) at Williamtown and ARDU at Edinburgh.

But the PTS will go far beyond just aircraft.

The project also calls for the provision of “a range of classroom based, computer based and synthetic training devices to be used in conjunction with airborne training,” and the DMO says guidance on “the balance of airborne and synthetic training will be provided by Defence, based on training needs analysis, method and media evaluation, training efficiency, capability enhancement, environmental constraints and workforce modelling. ” The project calls for a capacity of 171 student candidates which, based on a projected 65 per cent success rate, will provide 111 student pilot graduates annually comprising 14 pilots for the Navy, 49 for the Army and 48 for the RAAF, with a surge capacity of up to 200 student candidates. Additionally, CFSwill require the capacity to train 43 QFIs each year (graduating 93 per cent).

The DMO wants the successful bidder to develop the training system and to determine the number of aircraft needed to fulfil the requirements. To help in defining that, the DMO details indicative annual flying rates of the current training establishments as guidelines. Currently, BFTS flies approximately 12,000 hours per year for basic flight training and 6000 hours for flight screening, 2FTS flies 15,000 hours, CFS including the Roulettes flies about 6100 hours, FACDU 1030 PC-9 hours, and ARDU operates its three PC-9s about 900 hours per year, for a total of just over 41,000 hours annually. To achieve this BFTS currently operates 36 CT-4B basic trainers, while the RAAF has 64 PC-9/As remaining from the original 67 delivered in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Current project timings will see a Request for Expression of Interest released in the first quarter of 2010, with evaluations leading to contract signature in the second quarter of 2012. The in-service date (ISD) of sufficient aircraft, synthetic training devices, documentation and infrastructure to begin training selected CFS, BFTS and 2FTS instructors is set for the second quarter of 2014.

An IOC – defined as completion of the first flight instructor’s course and having sufficient aircraft, synthetic training devices, documentation and infrastructure in place to commence flight screening and basic training at BFTS – is expected in the second quarter of 2015. Full or final operating capability (FOC) is scheduled for the third quarter of 2016.

Air 9000 Phase 7

The successful Air 9000 Phase 7 tenderer “will provide a Joint Helicopter School (JHS) to provide a rotary wing training service to prepare Navy and Army aircrew – pilots, observers and aircrewmen” for operational conversion to Seahawk, MRH 90, Black Hawk, Chinook, ARH, and any new helicopter types acquired under Air 9000 Phase 8 or other future programs, according to the DMO’s industry brief.

Like the PTS, the HATS will build upon the current system but also will be “capable of adopting new approaches to selection and training. ” The HATS aircraft will replace the Army’s Bell 206B Kiowas and the Navy’s AS 350B Squirrels in the training role to provide “ab-initio helicopter training to pilots who will have graduated from the PTS under Project Air 5428 Phase 1, observers who will have graduated from the School of Air Warfare at RAAF Base East Sale, and aircrewmen who will be streamed from other branches/corps within Defence. ” As with the Air 5428 PTS, the JHS will also include classroom based, computer based and synthetic training devices to augment and reinforce airborne training.

The project calls for a throughput of about 110 students per year, of which approximately 97 – comprising 44 Army pilots, 20 Army aircrewmen, 13 Navy pilots, 12 Navy observers, and eight Navy aircrewmen – are expected to graduate, with sufficient flexibility to increase the throughput by about 10 students per year if required.

Again, while it will be up to the successful bidder to determine how many aircraft will be required to meet this capacity, the project team has stated that it requires the aircraft to be “a twin gas turbine engine helicopter, have a ‘glass cockpit’, be NVD (night vision device) compatible, single pilot IFR, be able to operate with and land on/takeoff from an under way vessel and . . . have appropriate instructor stations, communications, dual controls and instrumentation. ” The requirement states that, while the helicopters need not be integrated with naval vessels and there is no intention to embark them, they are required to be able to operate with ships, including vertical replenishment, clear deck landings, and personnel transfers.

A rough expectation of the JHS is that it will be able to provide a rate of effort of between 11,000 and 11,500 hours per year, although additional JHS flying hours may be required for crews prior to transitioning to the eventual Air 9000 Phase 8 (Seahawk replacement) helicopter. Defence says JHS aircraft may also be required for “secondary tasks” such as community support, humanitarian, search and rescue, and promotional/ recruiting work to the tune of about 550 hours per year.

The DMO expects to release a Request for Expressions of Interest in the fourth quarter of 2009 with a view to signing a contract with the successful bidder in the second quarter of 2012. The ISD, defined as delivery of the first aircraft in its final or an approved configuration, is due in the first quarter of 2014, while IOC, defined as the “commencement of the first undergraduate pilots course, of at least six student pilots” is planned for later that year. FOC is planned for 2016, and it is envisaged that the contract term will be for 25 years.

Triple P

The ADF decided to embrace on the PPP model after studying similar systems in operation for Singapore and the UK, and after industry consultation.

Under the PPP model, the successful bidder’s primary obligation will be to “provide a training service capable of training a specified number of aircrew personnel per year” by developing the training system, procuring the aircraft, synthetic training devices, facilities, and other infrastructure required to form the ‘system’, to operate and maintain the aircraft, and to finance all of these activities.

The ADF will fund the system through a performance based service charge judged mainly on the delivery of the training system, starting on the service commencement date.

But mindful of the current global financial crisis, the ADF has requested comment from industry on the availability of private finance. That might be the biggest challenge for these broad ranging programs in a time of credit scarcity.