Handing Over?

The company currently provides both flight-screening and basic flying training services for the ADF at Tamworth. In addition, the company supports air-grading activities for the Republic of

Singapore Air Force (RSAF); basic flying training and rotary-wing training for Brunei; and helicopter training for the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF).

BAE Systems Australia was awarded the Interim Basic Flying Training (IBFT) contract in May 2011 to continue to provide services for the ADF until AIR 5428 takes off. The first IBFT pilot training course started in January 2012.

The six-year, $86. 6 million agreement is a performance-based contract that includes six optional one-year extensions. This gives some scope for continued operations under the auspices of the IBFT contract beyond 2017, depending on what happens with AIR 5428.

Airtrainer fleet

The company’s fleet of Pacific Aerospace CT-4B Airtrainer aircraft, which have been supporting ADF flying training since 1992, have all been put through an upgrade program so they meet crash protection requirements set out by the ADF. BAE Systems also has a pair of PA-34 Seneca aircraft for customers that want to go beyond the single-engine CT-4 and put their students through multi-engine training.

BAE generates an annual rate of effort of between 16,000 and 18,000 hours.

With a fleet size of 30, the company generates an annual rate of effort of between 16,000 and 18,000 hours from its CT-4B aircraft. Eight aircraft have so far been through a wing spar replacement program having reached 14,000 flying hours. In the past many support activities were contracted out, but over the last decade or so much of the work has been brought back inside the company.

ADF flight-screening

BAE Systems screens between 275 and 300 pilot candidates for the ADF each year. Pierre Steyn, BAE Systems Australia’s program manager at Flight Training Tamworth, explained that candidates have already made it through a rigorous selection process before they are invited to attend flight-screening.

“Some of them are existing pilots who are flying in the civilian environment, some of them are guys who have been in the banking industry,” said Steyn. “We get guys here who are 47 years of age. . . so it varies quite a bit, but the majority of them would be school leavers. ” Each screening course is typically made up of nine candidates. Over the course of two weeks they fly between six and eight sorties or ‘events’, depending on the candidate’s flying experience, which equates to between seven and 10 hours in the air.

The aim of the ADF flight-screening process is to assess a candidate’s ability to adapt to the flying environment and check their capacity for learning at a certain rate, according to Steyn. These assessments are carried out jointly by both BAE Systems’ instructors and instructors from the ADF. A candidate usually flies three or four sorties with one instructor before switching over, so that he or she is assessed by two parties.

“After the completion of the flights they do group activities where they check them for leadership and there are psych tests,” said Steyn.

“They will look at the results of all those tests, as well as the assessment rides they have done, and they will have [an interview] board here, where the students actually sit in front of a board. They look at their results, ask them questions on their motivation, level of knowledge. . . and then they will make an assessment and tell the individual if he or she has been successful or not. ”

ADF basic flying training

Successful candidates from all three branches of the ADF eventually return to Tamworth for basic flying training. The success rate varies from course to course, but overall about 50 per cent of flight-screening candidates make it through to the next phase, meaning about 150 students undertake basic flying training in a given year. Steyn said the number of female students on site varies – sometimes there can be eight or nine, sometimes there are none.

Army, Navy and RAAF students complete the same initial 63-hour program. The basic flying training phase spans about 23 weeks, with eight courses per year running concurrently. Students initially go to ground school for a solid block of five weeks before they transition to a mixed program of flying and ground school instruction.

“The first phase is normally the one where we would see the most students drop out, that is [the General Flying Progress Test] phase,” said Steyn. “That is where they get to do all the basics, some aerobatics and circuits, go solo as well. . . [instructors] try and give them a fair go up until that phase, then that is normally the earliest that they will make a call. ” Following on from basic flying training, Air Force and Navy students move to RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia for advanced flying training on the Pilatus PC-9. But the Army students stay with BAE Systems for an additional 33 hours of training on the Intermediate Pilots Course (IPC), which involves more advanced navigation training and instrument flying training, as well as formation flying. The IPC is intended to prepare students for rotary-wing training at the Army Aviation Training Centre in Oakey, Queensland.

Students from Brunei are currently being put through basic flying training and rotary-wing training at Tamworth. BAE Systems has also provided instructor training for Brunei, taking qualified pilots and turning them into instructors. At the end of basic flying training BAE Systems makes recommendations on the basis of the students’ potential for becoming multi-engine pilots or helicopter pilots. Assessments are endorsed back in Brunei and students are streamed accordingly. Having placed an order for a dozen S-70i Black Hawk helicopters, Brunei certainly has pressing training requirements that need to be met.

The PNGDF currently has students undergoing rotary-wing training at Tamworth, but BAE Systems has also provided basic flying training and multi-engine training. Steyn estimated that it would be at least five years before Papua New Guinea could rely on its own flying instructors to provide training for students.

The basic flying training course for students from Papua New Guinea totals 120 hours. The course is almost twice as long as the ADF equivalent but the content is similar, merely covering the same material in greater depth.

RSAF air grading

Singapore puts about 220 candidates through the Tamworth facility each year. BAE Systems provides access to its facilities and supplies all of the necessary services to enable the RSAF to carry out air-grading of pilot candidates using its own instructors. Although BAE Systems does not provide instructors for the air-grading courses, the company does provide tuition for Singaporean instructors who need to obtain commercial pilot licences.

There are generally 20 Singaporean students at Tamworth at any given time, although there can be up to 40 at times of transition between courses, plus between 10 and 15 members of staff. Air-grading courses last five weeks and comprise about 15 sorties. There are two phases, with some candidates being ‘scrubbed’ after the first eight events. Overall the success rate is about 40 per cent.

While ADF flight-screening is purely about identifying candidates with the potential to become pilots, the Singaporean air-grading process includes ab initio flying training intended to prepare successful candidates to eventually go to RAAF Base Pearce for advanced flying training on the Pilatus PC-21.

It is pretty clear . . . the air force preference is to take basic flying training to East Sale. JOHN QUAIFE

Contracting conundrum

BAE Systems’ current contract with Singapore is due for renewal in the next year or two, although there is an option to extend the agreement for a further five years.

John Quaife, general manager Aviation Solutions at BAE Systems Australia, highlighted the fact that the company’s relationships with its international customers are not part of considerations about the ADF’s future pilot training system.

“Because these are direct commercial relationships that is not part of the 5428 conundrum,” Quaife said. “In terms of what happens to Singapore, PNG or Brunei. . . correctly so it is not the ADF’s concern. ” So what does happen to these customers and BAE Systems’ Flight Training Tamworth operation if ADF basic flying training moves elsewhere, whether the company is successful in securing the AIR 5428 contract or not? “It is pretty clear from everything that has been said the Air Force preference is to take basic flying training to [RAAF Base] East Sale,” Quaife said. “We do not have an argument with that. . . but our concern is that we need to think about what happens to the ancillary contracts, and we think there is a future for that here at Tamworth. We actually think there is a future for the ADF here at Tamworth too, because we are obliged to give them an on-base and an off-base solution. ” Steyn declared: “That is my challenge: to grow this business to [remain] a sustainable business, even if we do not win 5428. . . previously we focused on military flying training only [but] that is no longer the case. We have to diversify; we have to look a bit broader than that. So if need be we will consider doing [civilian] flying training, but we will not get involved in getting Joe Bloggs from the street. ” Steyn said that BAE Systems would consider offering pilot training services for customers such as major airlines. In terms of potential military customers, he stated that the company has been in contact with Malaysia, as well as other countries that he could not name.

“Our first choice would be to continue with that because that is what we are good at, that is what sets us apart from other flying training colleges,” Steyn continued. “That is our focus at this point in time but we are not single-minded and closed-minded – we would consider everything in order to ensure a sustainable operation post-ADF departure. ” Steven Drury, BAE Systems Australia’s director-aerospace, pointed out that attracting additional customers to Tamworth from around the Asia Pacific region would be in line with the type of engagement envisaged in the Australian government’s Australia in the Asian Century White Paper.

So far BAE Systems has pursued opportunities for training military pilots from other countries as purely commercial ventures. But there could be scope for government involvement in facilitating the expansion of what seems to be a valuable means of forging links between Defence and the wider region’s future air force chiefs.

BAE Systems is not free to take students from every country. There are restrictions in place against some nationalities with the company’s primary customer being the ADF and the facility holding accreditation as part of the Defence Industry Security Program (DISP).

Steyn explained that under the company’s current business model there is some spare capacity in the system. “We actually assign aircraft, we do the scheduling, we do the maintenance, so we are in control of our own destiny,” he said. “If you take one customer in isolation then – let us say Singapore – if they are the only customer here, they require four aircraft on a daily basis but you also require two aircraft for maintenance to serve that one customer.

“But once you have more than one customer there is a synergy in how you do that. So yes, we do have spare capacity. I do not have aircraft sitting out there doing nothing, that is not the spare capacity that I have, but there are gaps in the program. . . that is why we can also provide them with a value-for-money solution. ”

Instructor evaluation

Matthew Sibree, BAE Systems Australia’s AIR 5428 project manager, said the future pilot training system would likely adopt a different approach, with the customer taking responsibility for aircraft scheduling. The ADF is also set to reclaim flying instruction by moving away from using contracted instructors, he said. This would include simulator instructors so as to ensure continuity for students.

Steyn said that although three of the company’s current instructors do not have military backgrounds, BAE Systems has generally favoured recruiting former military pilots. However, attracting suitable instructors has been difficult.

“I have been here six years now – there has not been one single applicant from within Australia with the necessary background and qualifications who has applied,” he said. “When [pilots] do leave Defence they want to go to Qantas. . . and end up as a captain on 747s; they do not want to come and sit here and fly three or four events with a basic student every single day. ” BAE Systems’ instructors therefore tend to hail from countries such as the UK and the US where similar training principles to those expected in Australia are applied. In any case they must undergo annual assessments by the Central Flying School to check their implementation of the airborne instructional techniques required by the ADF.

While any uncertainty surrounding the introduction of the new pilot training system under AIR 5428 could see IBFT contract-extension options being exercised, Steyn expressed his concern about staff retention given the possibility of ADF training operations at Tamworth eventually coming to an end.

Preparing for takeoff

Other anticipated changes under the AIR 5428 framework include eventually transitioning to complete reliance on synthetic training devices for the ADF flight-screening process. Sibree stated that the draft Request for Tender

(RFT) outlined plans to use the simulator procured for the advanced flying training platform to deliver flight-screening, creating a system more along the lines of a commercial airline’s training program.

He said that using synthetic training devices would mean each candidate could be exposed to exactly the same scenarios, although this sort of assessment standardisation would not necessarily be beneficial if candidates have the opportunity to compare notes. In addition, relying solely on simulators would not give candidates the chance to get a real feel for flying, which is particularly important given that experiencing airsickness can cause otherwise suitable potential pilots to withdraw.

But the method of carrying out flight-screening is not as important as working out what to look for, Sibree said. “It is not how they do flight-screening that is the issue, it is the ability to data-mine and correlate all that information that they are getting with the pilots who have gone through the system over the years,” he said.

“And I think that is where the ADF struggles [with] the ability to analyse all that data they have captured and make something meaningful out of it. Some might say that they could tailor that flight-screening program to ensure that it gets a better correlation to a fighter pilot. ” Although piloting modern fighters is often seen as more about managing sensors and systems than truly flying the aircraft in the traditional sense, Sibree said the screening program should still be seeking out candidates who are able to master fundamental stick-and-rudder skills.

“The best pilots who have gone through the system are the guys that can fly an aircraft well to start with,” he said. “They naturally have the spare capacity to then manage systems. The whole situational awareness thing comes naturally to a guy who can fly the aircraft. ” While there has been much talk about adapting flying training to meet the needs of the current generation of technology-savvy school leavers, AIR 5428 does not seem to reflect a drive to break with tradition in this way.

“The customer. . . has been doing flying training now for 100 years,” Sibree said. “For 5428 they have purposely set a number of constraints around how the training design is to take place, not necessarily to cater for Gen Y but to ensure that they do not diverge too far from the path that they know has worked for them in the past. ” He said the ADF plans to restrict flying training using simulators to not more than 25 per cent of the program, although this proportion could change as the new system matures and confidence in synthetic training devices grows.

However, Sibree stated the real challenge in this area is striking a balance between embracing the sort of self-paced, computer-based training that young students in particular are likely to have a natural affinity for, and providing an instructor who stands at the front of the classroom. While instructors might use the latest technology to support their ground school teaching, they are also on hand to answer students’ questions as they arise.

Request for tender

The draft RFT for AIR 5428 was released in January and industry stakeholders were invited to submit comments in the following month. Sibree stated that BAE Systems is preparing for the final RFT to be issued in the third or fourth quarter of the year.

“This RFT is a monster,” he said. “For example, they have requested environmental scoping studies on every non-ADF airfield that you would intend to use; they have requested security assessments on every non-ADF airfield you intend to use. That alone is a lot of work. . . some of that stuff needs to be preloaded before the RFT hits the streets, so that is what we are doing now. ” Asked about when to expect news regarding teaming arrangements, Sibree said BAE Systems is in the process of finalising an assessment on its preferred platform. But he added that the key to the AIR 5428 bid is not the aircraft itself, rather it is the system being proposed to support the platform that is really important.

The discriminators are likely to be the learning environment and the synthetic training devices that are being offered, as well as plans for achieving cost-effective aircraft sustainment. Whatever the outcome of the AIR 5428 competition, even the tough little CT-4B trainers cannot go on forever.