On the lookout

Structure

SRG was formed in 2004 with the amalgamation of the former Maritime Patrol Group (MPG) and the Surveillance and Control Group (SCG). MPG consisted primarily of the RAAF Edinburgh-based 92WG while SCG was responsible for 41WG and 44WG, and 2SQN.

“SRG was stood up to bring together the two groups that were focussed on ISR in a maritime domain, and in an air battle management domain,” the Commander of SRG, AIRCDRE Jim Brown told Australian Aviation. “Although we didn’t really conduct much overland work back in those days, 92WG is now doing overland ISR, and did so in Iraq and now in Afghanistan. The aim was to get some synergies because when the group was formed the wings were still very stove-piped, and we’ve developed a concept and a strategic vision of how to synergise these capabilities.”

The RAAF Williamtown-based 41WG is responsible for all of the RAAF’s air defence operational and training units, including 3 Control and Reporting Unit (3 CRU) and the Surveillance and Control Training Unit (SACTU) at the Eastern Region Operations Centre at Williamtown and a detachment of 3 CRU (3 CRU DET TDL) which runs the Northern Region Operations Centre (NORTHROC) at RAAF Base Tindal; the 114 Mobile Control and Reporting Unit (114 MCRU) which operates mobile TPS 77 TADRS radars from its base at Darwin and which last year returned from its deployment with a TADRS from Afghanistan; and 1 Radar and Surveillance Unit (1RSU) which operates the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) capability from Edinburgh which comprises three Over-the-Horizon Radars (OTHR) located at sites in South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland.

The Williamtown based 42WG was formed in 2006, and is responsible for 2SQN (reformed in 2000) and the operation of the new 737 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft, three of which have been delivered to the RAAF this year in an interim configuration, and that system’s associated training and support facilities (see AA, November 2010).

Also based at Williamtown is 44WG which is responsible for all ADF Air Traffic Control operations at 11 flying bases around Australia including the Army Aviation base at Oakey and Naval Air Station Nowra, as well as the supporting ATC Technical Ground Electronic Services (GES). Personnel and mobile equipment from 44WG are also able to be deployed to forward or austere airfields to provide ATC services such as the deployment earlier this year to Haiti to assist in the supply of aid in the wake of the devastating earthquake there.

“There are many reforms that have occurred in the 44WG space and how they’ve moved from what was a traditional fixed base ATC out into the battlefield airspace management,” said AIRCDRE Brown. “They’re now working closely and have people embedded within Navy and within Army in a deployed environment. In fact, as we sit here today they’ve got people deployed in Afghanistan in those types of roles. As 44WG broadens their scope – we keep saying it’s the ISR FEG, but it’s grown to be the ISR and battlespace management FEG.”

Edinburgh based 92WG and its subordinate units, 10SQN, 11SQN and 292SQN are responsible for the operation and the training of crews for the AP-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft. These aircraft provide not only the traditional anti-submarine and anti-surface roles, maritime patrol and search and survivor supply (SASS) capabilities for the ADF, but also the more recently realised overland ISR and Electronic, Signals and Communications Intelligence (ELINT/SIGINT/COMINT) capability.

92WG also operates two permanent detachments – DET A at RMAF Base Butterworth in Malaysia in support of the five power defence agreement (FPDA), and DET B at Darwin in support of Operation Resolute, to which at least two AP-3Cs are dedicated at any one time, and of course has maintained at least two AP-3Cs in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) since 2003 in support of Operations Catalyst and Slipper, and more recently, on anti-piracy missions in the Arabian Sea.

“The role of Headquarters SRG is to bring all those capabilities together,” explained AIRCDRE Brown. “Having 42WG come on board has really given the synergies goal we have a real kick along. It’s a flying wing but it’s also heavily an air battle management element, and that has really helped cement things together. We tend to look across the group now when problem solving rather than just within the wings.”

In Transition

Despite being established more than six years ago, SRG is still a FEG in transition. As AIRCDRE Brown explains, almost all of SRG’s capabilities will be swapped out for new hardware over the next decade.

“If you look at the types of capabilities that are flagged to come into this group within the next 10 years, there will effectively be a refresh of all of them,” he explained. “Wedgetail is being rolled out as we speak – after a few challenges that is now a good news story. So is Vigilare. 92WG have the P-3 which is getting close to its planned withdrawal date this decade. And in the ATC space, we’re doing a complete refresh of the tower systems, the ATC systems – sensors and radars, and a most of the comms too. So when you look across all the wings, they’re all at various stages of refreshing their capabilities.

“So if you look across the spectrum of the transitions or refreshes the Group’s going through – half the Wedgetail fleet is on the tarmac, Vigilare is now being rolled out, 44WG probably sits there as the third cab off the rank, and finally 92WG will complete the picture.”

The Project Air 5333 Vigilare rollout has been a long time coming with several technical and contractural difficulties slowing progress over the past few years, but following the signing of a new Deed of Settlement with prime contractor, Boeing Defence Australia in February 2009, the program has gained new momentum. Indeed, following the installation and testing of the system at NORTHROC, Vigilare successfully debuted at this year’s Exercise Pitch Black and was subsequently accepted into service, and work commenced on the installation of the system at EASTROC in August.

Vigilare will replace all of the RAAF’s ground based air defence Command & Control (C2) systems and will become the key node for the ADF’s future network centric warfare roadmap, seamlessly pulling together sensor feeds from civil and military ATC radars, JORN, airborne platforms like Wedgetail, AP-3C and Super Hornet, and even from ships such as the recently upgraded Adelaide class FFGs and forthcoming Air Warfare Destroyers, to provide a fused Recognised Air Picture (RAP) covering the entire continent and its approaches.

Next up will be the ATC system replacement program under Project Air 5431 which is a major undertaking by Air Force, not least of which because Defence is looking to align its program as much as possible with the concurrent efforts by Air Services Australia (ASA) to replace civil systems around the country as well.

“We’re working very closely with ASA across a range of initiatives, and one of those is looking to get alignment in an equipment buy because ASA is equally going through a significant equipment refresh,” AIRCDRE Brown said. “The ASA and Air Force harmonisation has been championed by the defence and transport ministers, and by our chief and the CEO of ASA, and it makes sense that, where possible, we do buy similar systems to leverage off those capabilities.”

The program is divided into two key phases; Phase 2 will see the fixed radars replaced with modern systems, and Phase 3 will cover the fixed facilities refurbishments and air traffic management systems. The successful tenderers are expected to be selected in 2012, and full operational capability at the 11 flying bases around the country is currently slated for 2018.

The next major aircraft replacement program for SRG will be that of the AP-3Cs under Project Air 7000 with a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft. Initially slated to run first, the introduction of the Phase 1 Maritime Unmanned Aerial System (MUAS) element was pushed back to the 2020 timeframe, while the manned replacement, likely to be with the Boeing 737-based P-8A MMA, will be introduced from 2016.

AIRCDRE Brown explained that SRG is involved at all stages in the AP-3C replacement process. “If you look at the current schedule for the PWD (Planned Withdrawal Date) of the P-3s, what we’re focussed on within the group is to see what we can do to keep the current platform going to its PWD – whether we need to refresh certain elements of the AP-3C, whether there are obsolescence issues or capability assurance issues, or whether there are regulatory issues in terms of ensuring the aircraft can continue to fly in today’s airspaces. So our key focus is really on current operations.

“That said, we are constantly liaising with Air Force Headquarters (AFHQ) and Capability Development Group (CDG) regarding future capabilities. Within SRG we have a capability development element, and they’re engaged with the various stakeholders within that capability development space with an eye to the future and what might be coming online. As that discussion moves from a capability core to what type of platforms might fulfil that capability, we then become involved in how we transition from the current operations to what is coming in the pipeline. We’re just at the leading edge of those activities now.”

Whilst there was speculation and policy announcements from Liberal leader Tony Abbott in the lead up to August’s federal election that the Phase 1 Maritime Unmanned Aerial System (MUAS) element of the Air 7000 P-3 replacement program might be brought forward to around 2014, the published timetable of a service introduction of an unmanned capability from around 2020 appears to remain in place.

“SRG haven’t looked at the possibility of bringing Phase 1 forward because no one has really pushed the development of that proposal as an option to us,” AIRCDRE Brown said. “But if someone said ‘we’re looking at bringing it forward’, obviously we’d seriously look at that proposal, but rather than just give it to 92WG our view is we would take a group level look at that challenge and solve it from a group perspective across all the wings. But I recall what drove (the original decision to push Phase 1 back to 2020) was the realisation that with the number of capabilities coming online over the originally proposed period, there was a potential we could be overcommitting ourselves, and it made sense to deconflict the introduction of some of those capabilities to better manage those transition activities.”

In the meantime, SRG certainly has a challenge in maintaining a strong ISR capability during the transition from the AP-3C to its replacement. “We’re working to maintain the capability,” said AIRCDRE Brown. “I wouldn’t say there will be a dip – we’re looking to maintain our operational capability to the greatest extent possible. While the number of aircraft might go down, in terms of the crews and the hours we dedicate to operations, our objective is to retain as high a level as possible through the transition.”

Reforms

One could be excused for thinking that, due to its relative youth and the opportunities that a host of new capabilities coming in could provide, that SRG is ripe for the model implementation of efficiencies found under the Strategic Reform Program (SRP) currently underway across Defence. But as AIRCDRE Brown explains, true reform must be a carefully managed process and kept within an organisation’s capacity.

“SRP will make us think about how we go about our business. But in terms of what we do and our core long-term objectives and structures, and how we work together across the wings and the group, fundamentally it’s not going to change that. Importantly though, it will make us think a bit smarter about how we do things.

“The plan is that we would not try to roll SRP out across the group concurrently and fire everyone up at the same time, as that would be beyond our capacity,” he added in closing. “My view is if you are going to do SRP properly you need to put in place sound foundations, otherwise you’re potentially building a bit of a house of cards. So our OTHR capability in Edinburgh has been our pilot SRP program. By doing it at OTHR which is a much smaller organisation in terms of its size, and the nature of the operations are reasonably focussed – it’s a fixed asset, therefore we can apply the methodologies of SRP, learn the lessons, and apply that across the other wings and groups.”

Such a measured and careful approach seems to hold the FEG and the RAAF as a whole in good stead, especially in the wider ADF goal of realising some $20 billion in savings over the next decade. And with the technology and capability updates coming on line in the next decade and a greater emphasis being placed on ISR and networking, SRG will be positioned at the leading edge of upholding Australia’s security and interests well into the future.