Future F-35 pilot training

The RAAF has two major fixed wing training programs currently underway – the Air 5428 Pilot Training System, and the Air 5438 Hawk Lead- In Fighter Mid Life Upgrade.

Air 5428 has undergone a couple of major changes in recent years, going from a planned industry funded Private Public Partnership (PPP) model, to one of a more traditional government funded platform replacement program.

The PPP model was killed off in part by the global financial crisis and uncertainties on whether industry was prepared to risk a substantial up-front cost for such long term returns, as well as a feeling within some elements of Capability Development Group (CDG) and the DMO that the ADF might not have the desired level of control over the platforms and other training devices if they were privately owned.

There has been a push from industry, from the Williams Foundation thinktank, and, most importantly, from within senior ranks of the RAAF itself, for a ground-up reassessment of the fixed wing pilot training system as part of Air 5428, rather than just going with a one-for-one replacement of the industry run BFTS and the RAAF’s PC-9s. The one-for-one replacement and retention of the current system route is on face value a safe option, but will likely have only short term benefits in the form of greater platform reliability, capability and availability.

While there may be more risk in a clean-sheet approach to training, if done right there are obvious benefits to be realised: an alignment of the system with the goals of the $20 billion Defence Strategic Reform Program (SRP); a deeper engagement with industry in not only providing but sustaining solutions; the flexibility and agility an industry based system can provide; and a reduction in the time it takes to train a pilot.

But there is also the potential to align all levels of the system, from ab initio through advanced to lead-in fighter training, with that of the JSF system being stood up at Eglin and which the RAAF will adopt back at Williamtown later this decade.

The RAAF will eventually need to double its fast jet pilot graduation rate for the F-35, and with the levels of investment in and importance of a robust air combat capability such as that expected to be provided by the F-35, a fast jet pilot should always be the end result all levels of the fixed wing training system strive for.

The Hawk upgrade will also have a big effect on the quality of the final pilot ‘product’ sent to the F-35. Current plans call for a decision on the scope of the upgrade and the successful tender to be made by 2015, and service entry in the 2017-19 timeframe, strangely three to five years after the first F-35s enter service. But questions have been raised in some quarters about whether a cockpit and systems upgrade for the Hawk, despite the type only being in RAAF service for just over a decade, will provide sufficient capability for the future lead-in fighter role.

Some observers have suggested that, due to the lack of a twoseat F-35, a higher performing type like the Lockheed Martin/KAI T-50, Aermacchi M-346, or a planned offering from Boeing might be required, and that these should be considered as part of the overall Air 5428 process. For its part, BAE Systems says an upgrade based upon the latest Hawk 128 AJT baseline would provide sufficiently advanced avionics and systems to effectively bridge the gap, and cites the UK’s investment in the 128 for its future F-35 pilots.

If the Air 5428 solution/s can be aligned with the ITC system, then the transition to the F-35 Operational Conversion (OPCON) for a pilot should be a near seamless one.