Wedgetail

Initial Delivery

The period from the ‘initial delivery’ of the first two Wedgetail airframes, A30-001 and A30-004, in November 2009 to the formal handover in May was an interim period agreed upon in contractual negotiations between the DMO’s Wedgetail project office and Boeing, and gave the RAAF an opportunity to train on the aircraft while development testing continued.

Despite wearing their ADF serial numbers, the aircraft also carried US registrations and remained on Boeing’s books and the US civil register until the RAAF took possession, and thus Boeing was obligated to provide a pilot in command and at least one flight test engineer on all RAAF training flights until the formal handover.

“The period from the initial delivery in November through to the formal acceptance really gave us the opportunity to have a look at the aircraft while it was still under Boeing’s control,” WGCDR Luke Stoodley, commanding officer of 2SQN, told Australian Aviation.

“We had the Boeing captain in one seat and a RAAF pilot in the other seat, plus we had one or two Boeing or Northrop Grumman test directors or radar experts down the back while the rest of the crew were RAAF. We were able to use to a large extent our procedures, but Boeing was responsible for all the maintenance, so we were able to ease into flying operations before we had the pressure of owning the jets and taking on the maintenance work as well. ”

Incremental Approach

“It’s much the same as the Super Hornets and what they’re doing up at Amberley – it’s an incremental approach,” said GPCAPT Steve Meredith, officer commanding 42WG, under which 2SQN falls.

“It’s all part of ensuring that all aspects of the capability are addressed, and a big part of that is collective training. We’re training the crews now to operate the aircraft, and later there will be that collective training piece where we take them to exercises to make sure we can deliver the outcomes the ADF needs. But it’s not just about the aircrew, there is a lot of training going on with the technicians to make sure we can deploy the aircraft wherever we want to and support it while we’re away. ” GPCAPT Meredith added that the wing has an exercise plan that will build up in complexity over time, and to that end Wedgetails are currently flying into various bases around the country as the technical workforce builds up its knowledge of what it needs to deploy the aircraft.

“We’re still trying to work out what needs to be in our deployment kit, and we need to work out what GSE (ground support equipment) to take with us,” he explained. “We have a good idea but we need to go and exercise this before we step out to a major exercise or onto the international stage. We’re being very measured at this stage and we’ll start to see Wedgetail step out into a range of exercises. ” “To deploy this aircraft, it’s not just a 737, it’s a Wedgetail. It is a complex beast to take away and operate. ” said WGCDR Stoodley. “The squadron has developed plans and procedures to use for deployments and it is time to validate them.

“To deploy this aircraft, it’s not just a 737, it’s a Wedgetail. It is a complex beast to take away and operate.”

There’s a range of issues we need to consider to step into any exercise – how many techos (technicians) we need, mission support requirements, logistics support lines and how many crews are needed for the tasked rate of effort. And because we’re a first of type, there’s no metric we can hang our hats on. Fortunately, we’re blessed with the quality of the people we’ve got, really good people, and it’s an exciting time for us to be blazing that trail and be part of it. ” The first major exercise and deployment confirmed for the 2SQN crews so far is the two week F/A-18 Hornet operational con-version graduation exercise, High Sierra, scheduled for this November at RAAF Townsville, and in which other elements such as 4SQN are also likely to participate.

But the big year for the Wedgetail is likely to be 2012 with Pitch Black scheduled that year, and possibly participation as an element of a major RAAF push to Red Flag in the US in the lead up to being declared fully operational later that year.

Support

Boeing was awarded a five year, $800 million in-service support contract to support the RAAF’s Wedgetail fleet in January.

Under the contract, Boeing’s Defense Space & Security division is providing acquisition, program management, integration and engineering services, while Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) is supporting the program with engineering, maintenance and supply chain management for the fleet. As a side contract, Northrop Grumman is providing support for the Wedgetail’s MESA radar.

During the six month initial delivery period, while Boeing was responsible for all maintenance on the aircraft, 2SQN’s maintenance workforce was able to observe many of the processes and to build their understanding of the aircraft.

The Wedgetail maintenance program will go as far as an R8, which is a deep maintenance period, and in service, 2SQN technicians will perform R1 to R4 services, the longest of which should take about a week to complete. The squadron has a new hangar at Williamtown able to accommodate two Wedgetails at a time in two bays, one of which has an intricate network of platforms and gantries that fit snugly around the aircraft’s fin, MESA antenna array and fuselage.

“The work we’ll do within the squadron is very much based around what are the things we’re going to have to do when we deploy and what workforce do we have to take to deploy,” WGCDR Stoodley said.

“Anything beyond that is really the deeper level maintenance work, most of which will be performed by Boeing up at Amberley.

“Since July 2009, the maintenance training has been done here with BDA, but we have at times sent people up to Amberley as well,” he added. “We had two full time people at Amberley for two years and they gained a lot of experience with the modifications to the aircraft, and there have also been times when we’ve sent other people up there for particular activities. We’ve now got 15 contractor technicians integrated within our maintenance workforce here and that seems to be working quite well. ” “The support contract that was signed in January considered all the green aircraft pieces as well as all the other mission specific equipment to make sure we’re supportable and we can deploy where we want, when we want, and that’s all working reasonably well to date,” said GPCAPT Meredith.

Experience

As Australia has never operated an AEW capability before, in the lead up to the first Wedgetails entering service the RAAF sent personnel to participate in extended overseas allied exchanges to learn how to operate AEW systems and the various concepts of operations (CONOPS) for the capability.

While the delays to the program did initially play havoc with some of the planned posting cycles of people coming back from exchanges, they also allowed 2SQN personnel to build up a little more experience.

“We had some people with the RAF at Waddington flying AWACS there, with the USAF at Tinker flying AWACS, and with the E-2 folk at Norfolk with the US Navy,” said WGCDR Stoodley. “We had two lots of about eight people go through Tinker – the first rotation was geared to come back in 2006, but we managed to get two rotations through so we were actually able to get more experience on AWACS.

“These folk brought back a lot of corporate knowledge because Australia has never had this capability,” he added. “The roles that we had them do overseas was a very broad look at what the AWACS could do, not just control of fast jets in an air defence environment, but also in the battlespace management area. We had people who saw operational service as well, so they saw how it was done in combined operations with the USAF and RAF forces. These opportunities allowedRAAF personnel to gain valuable aviation experience which has really helped us get a head start on our operations. ” In total, about 25 of 2SQN’s personnel did exchanges, most of whom were air combat officers (ACOs), although a few pilots participated as well. But a larger number of pilots, after getting their type conversion at Brisbane’s Boeing (nee Alteon)/Virgin Blue simulator centre, did some line flying with Virgin Blue.

“We flew over three years with Virgin on a four day roster per month, so when it got to actually own the aircraft we had people who were already pretty experienced on the 737,” explained WGCDR Stoodley. “So whilst we were not so experienced on the Wedgetail, we had a good pool of ACOs who were well versed in the capability and the role we had to do, and there were experienced 737 pilots ready to go. For the ACOs, the radar is very different to those on the AWACS and E-2 and the way you use it is very different, so there’s been a big learning curve there. It’s become clear in the short time we have been operating the aircraft that the Wedgetail capability has significant potential!” WGCDR Stoodley was one of the pilots who flew with Virgin Blue, and says the Wedgetail flies very similarly to the 737‑700 and BBJ models on which it is based. “You sit in the Wedgetail and you could be sitting in any other 737,” he said.

“There are a few panel differences obviously, but when you fly it you use all the same techniques, and the handling qualities are very much the same. That said, the Wedgetail is a little noisier aircraft at the front because of the various protrusions we have hanging off it, and we are a little ‘draggier’ as you’d expect, but otherwise it flies very much the same. ” While the drag and different characteristics do have an effect on the Wedgetail’s fuel consumption and top speed, GPCAPT Meredith said these are not really factors for the way the RAAF intends to operate the aircraft. “The whole intent was to make the Wedgetail design to handle as close as possible to a standard 737 as you could, and I think it’s pretty close,” he said.

Diverse Backgrounds

The 2SQN and 42WG cadres have been drawn from all areas of the RAAF. “They are being drawn from all walks of life,” said WGCDR Stoodley. “The maintainers have come from the P-3, from Hercs, or from F-111s, while the pilots are being reroled from other types instead of being taken straight out of 2FTS. We’re not looking forany specific type of person – we take everybody and we mould them to the Wedgetail way. It’s healthy for the squadron to have that broad background. ” “That said, it is a challenge to establish a first of type capability from the ground up.

We have home grown ACOs, the people who have come from exchanges, we’ve got lateral recruits, and the different flying and maintenance backgrounds. Integrating a diverse team into a unit that can deploy and operate around the world is a work in progress, but it’s coming along well. ” The ACOs in particular come with a diverse range of backgrounds. “At the moment our plan is people will come out of the School of Air Warfare, or SAW, they’ll then go through 41WG units like 3CRU to consolidate their core skills, then they’ll come to us,” said GPCAPT Meredith.

“The first few crews have had a great deal of experience and that has been a great advantage to standing up the capability.

Our conversion course has been set up from the start to be able to take junior people, and starting on the next course in October, ACOs with 12 months’ experience at 41WG will come to us. I’m sure they are going to do a great job and are looking forward to flying on Wedgetail. ” Apart from specialist or supervisory positions, the squadron has taken a multi-skilling approach for the ACOs operating the radar and other systems in the Wedgetail’s cabin. “The crew are led by the AC (aircraft captain) and MC (mission commander),” explained GPCAPT Meredith. “Between the MC and the AC, they are the ones who will get the aircraft in the right place to do its job and to maximise the sensor capabilities and employ the jet – that diarchy gets the job done. ” “Except for the ESM role which is a dedicated position, we’ve taken a multiskilling approach,” added WGCDR Stoodley. “Everyone else can sit at any console and do the job they’re supposed to do, and our plan is to have people do different jobs within the flight or between flights – they could be doing the radar one day, and maybe datalinks another day, and then controlling aircraft another day. ” As GPCAPT Meredith related, the squadron and wing are learning how Wedgetail’s capability will contribute to and interact with other elements of the ADF. “Wedgetail for us is a real force multiplier and can contribute to a broad range of tasks, so it’s a case of the core skills we learnt in AWACS and other aircraft are the same, but how we apply them in the Australian context is a bit different. That’s some of the things we’re starting to explore now, how we’re going to plug this weapon system into the ORBAT (Order of Battle), how we’re going to do business with the Navy and Army or work with Coastwatch, all those sorts of things. We’re already starting to see what Wedgetail can deliver to the ADF, so in terms of the ADF’s network centric warfare goals and how we would work in a joint force, people are beginning to understand and embrace Wedgetail.

The exercise and operational testing plans we have laid out will explore all of this in much more detail. That said, it’s a rewarding time to be a part of this capability. ” From the perspective of 2SQN and 42WG, they will remain busy building the crews and establishing the ability to deploy and operate the aircraft and the training, both internally and in cooperation with BDA, but will remain reliant on the DMO’s project team as the remaining incremental capabilities such as the ESM and software upgrades are delivered.

“From the squadron’s perspective, it’s a really exciting time,” said WGCDR Stoodley.

“The aircraft is here now and we’re really getting ahead with it, we are really happy with the progress we have made and there is more to come. We understand where it is in the incremental delivery, and we have a really good team here. That’s been one of the key elements as a CO, even with the delays to the program, the team is very dedicated to getting Wedgetail going. ”