Big boost for Defence budget

The big increase for the 2009-10 budget is in part attributable to a doubling in funding allocated for operations in Afghanistan to $1. 1 billion, as well as a $2. 4 billion increase in spending on equipment acquisitions for the year. The forward estimates show the 2010-11 budget will increase another 1. 5 per cent to just over $27 billion, and then funding levels will in fact fall in real terms to $26. 3 billion.

This is in part because allocated spending for operations in Afghanistan dramatically reduces from 2010-11, and in part because $2 billion, the first efficiency gains from the new Defence White Paper’s Strategic Reform Project to find $20 billion in savings over 10 years, will be returned to the government over the next four years. That money will then be returned to Defence from mid next decade to help fund new equipment acquisitions.

Key Projects To Be Approved

Aviation related highlights in the Defence budget include a listing of projects due for first and second pass approval during the 2009-10 financial year, including new helicopters for the Navy and the longawaited Caribou replacement.

Highlights include: • A replacement for the Navy’s Seahawk and cancelled Seasprite helicopters will be selected with first pass approval for Phase 8 of the Air 9000 project for a Future Naval Aviation Combat System. The White Paper identified a requirement for “at least” 24 new helicopters for the Navy. Contenders are the Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky MH-60R ‘Romeo’ Seahawk and the NH Industries/Eurocopter NFH90, but some observers suggest Air 9000 Phase 8’s listing for first pass approval next year indicates Defence views this as an urgent program, which may favour the more mature MH-60R (although the NFH90 offers commonality benefits with the MRH 90 – detailed from p40 this issue).

• The government will give first pass approval in 2009-10 for the long term replacement for the Caribou under Air 8000 Phase 2. Contenders are the Alenia C-27J and Airbus Military (EADS CASA) C‑295.

• Air 8000 Phase 1 – the acquisition of two additional C-130Js for the RAAF, a requirement identified in the White Paper, will be given first pass approval in 2009-10.

• Other aviation projects up for first pass approval include Air 5438, Phase 1 – the Lead-in Fighter Capability Assurance program; Air 5431 Phase 1 – Future Air Traffic Control Surveillance Systems; and Air 5276 CAP 2 – AP-3C Capability Assurance Program.

Several projects are slated for second pass (final) approval by the government in 2009- 10, according to the budget papers, the highest profile of which is for the first 72 Lockheed Martin F-35 JSFs to replace RAAF Hornets under Air 6000 Phase 2A/2B New Air Combat Capability.

Other second pass projects include: the reinstated JP 2070 Phase 4 – integration of the MU90 lightweight torpedo on the AP-3C; Air 5416 Phase 4B. 1 C-130J radar warning receiver and Phase 4B. 2 infrared counter measures; Air 5440 Phase 1 – C-130J Block 7. 0 upgrade; Air 9000 SCAP2 – Seahawk Capability Assurance Program; and JP 3027 Phase 1 – JDAM enhancement.

The budget records that the Defence Material Organisation (DMO)’s biggest project expenditure for 2009-10 will be $1. 4 billion for the RAAF’s 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets being acquired under Air 5349. Other big aerospace expenditures include $429 million for the MRH 90 (Air 9000 Phase 2); $203 million for the Tiger ARH (Air 87), and $425 million for the KC-30 tankers (Air 5402).

Dmo Report Card

A report card by the DMO on its top 30 projects listed in the budget papers details new delays to the KC-30 tanker program and an assessment that the Wedgetail AEW&C program remains under “considerable pressure. ” • Boeing now proposes to deliver the first Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft in March 2010, which the DMO notes is “a total delay of 40 months against the baseline contract. ” But, “the DMO assesses that the date of March 2010 is under considerable pressure”. It says risks include “radar and electronic support measures technical maturity, mission computing development, integrated system performance and the complexity and concurrency of the test and acceptance program. ” • Delivery of the first KC-30 tanker to the RAAF has slipped again, from late this year to “early 2010” due to not being able to recover any time from a six month delay to beginning the second phase of flight testing.

“Although achieving substantial progress to date, there remains moderate technical and schedule risk associated with the first-of-type qualification and certification of the new boom refuelling system and military avionics. ” The DMO says the second KC-30, the first to be modified to tanker configuration in Australia, will fly to Madrid in “mid-2009” to assist with the completion of flight testing. n