Workforce “chaos” sees Minister can BAMS

Despite Northrop Grumman doubling its efforts in recent months to state its case for the RQ-4N Global Hawk as a contender to partially replace the RAAF’s AP-3C Orions with a long endurance UAV from late next decade under Project Air 7000 Phase 1B, the Commonwealth has decided to not participate in the US Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program, and to defer any decision on a potential Global Hawk or any other unmanned capability acquisition indefinitely.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon announced on March 2 that the decision was taken after the US Navy’s BAMS program had slipped, and because the introduction of an unmanned capability may compromise from a manning point of view, the smooth introduction of the anointed manned replacement for the AP-3C, the 737-800-based Boeing P-8 Poseidon.