RMI

Implemented in 2008 following the cancellation of the Navy’s troubled SEA 1411 Seasprite project, the RMI program has been part of a raft of initiatives that have allowed navy to manage a ‘bubble’ of helicopter aircrew who had been employed and were in training to go to Seasprite and other navy aircraft.

The bubble had been formed by an anticipated increase in the number of pilots and aviation warfare officers (AvWOs) who were by then in the training system in anticipation of the Seasprite entering service.

As Commanding Officer of Navy’s 723SQN CMDR Matt Shand told Australian Aviation : “The original trigger was the cancellation of the Seasprite project.

“The training system for navy aviation had already ramped itself up in an anticipation of that new capability – Seasprite was a new capability, it wasn’t a replacement for anything. But by then the aircrew had been inducted, and it would take a few years before they’re ready to pop out the other end of the training system. To that extent there is some lag inherent in the system and those aircrew were continuing to pop out years after the Seasprite was cancelled, leading to what we commonly call ‘the bubble’. ” The bubble is held within 723SQN at Nowra and CMDR Shand is responsible for the 30 extra aircrew who he refers to as his ‘bubble kids. ’ “The majority of the bubble kids are pilots and then the balance is split between AvWOs and aircrewmen,” Shand explained. “We hold them here at 723 until the front line squadrons are ready to take them. ” The RAN’s operational squadrons comprise 816SQN with the S-70B ‘classic’ Seahawk, 808SQN which will soon achieve an initial operating capability with the MRH 90, and the newly-established 725SQN which has begun training on the MH-60R Romeo Seahawk at NAS Jacksonville in Florida and to which 723SQN was expected to start contributing junior aircrew as we go to press.

“From mid-year the bubble will start to dissipate,” said Shand. “But it takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight with that number of aircrew in the bubble. ” While some will stay on staff at 723 as instructors, most of the pilots in the bubble will go to the Seahawk, MRH 90 and Romeo. “Noting that the MRH 90 is a pilot-only aircraft, AVWOs don’t go to the MRH,” said Shand.

“It’s the role of the aircraft – it’s a maritime utility role as opposed to a maritime warfare role. Because of the warfare focus of the Seahawk family, they need the warfare specialist in the aircraft to maximise the use of the sensors in that aircraft – for Romeo that’ll be dipping sonar, the radar and of course the weapons. The MRH 90 doesn’t have those more advanced systems optimised for the warfare role, hence the two pilots there, as opposed to the pilot and AvWO of the Seahawk and Romeo. ”

RMI

Established initially with three AgustaWestland A109E Power airframes at HMAS Albatross at Nowra under a ‘turnkey’ lease arrangement with Raytheon Australia, the agreement was renewed in September 2011 under a new $26 million four-year contract (plus two single-year options) beginning in April 2012.

The ‘RMI2’ agreement also gave Raytheon an opportunity to replace the A109s, all of which were secondhand and had some training limitations, with brand new Bell 429s.

Apart from offering newer equipment, this platform change was also seen as an astute piece of marketing. A Raytheon Australia-led team is offering the 429 as part of its ADF’s AIR 9000 Phase 7 Helicopter Aircrew Training System (HATS) bid for which it was recently shortlisted along with two other teams, Australian Aerospace and Boeing Defence Australia/Thales Australia, both of which are basing their bids around the Eurocopter EC135.

But Navy and Raytheon have stressed RMI and HATS are two very different requirements – one being an interim effort to provide new Navy pilots with a modern ‘glass’ cockpit-equipped aircraft and an agreed rate of effort with which to develop their flying skills – while the other will provide a long-term training solution and system to replace both Navy’s Squirrel and Army’s Kiowa training aircraft.

The three RMI2 machines are operated as an element within Navy’s 723SQN at Nowra and the contract provides for a rate-of-effort of not less than 1,500 hours a year with provisions to surge that if required. This compares favourably with the roughly 4,000 hours a year provided by 723’s 13 Squirrels.

No new aircrew are trained on the 429 – after completing the basic wings course at Tamworth and then advanced fixed-wing training on the PC-9, they must complete 118 hours on Squirrels. 723SQN conducts three Squirrel courses a year, each of which will graduate between four and seven aircrew. From there, crews may go into the bubble to either fly the RMI 429s or to get an ADF or overseas exchange posting, or will go straight to an operational unit within the Fleet Air Arm (FAA).

Within 723, about five of CMDR Shand’s instructors are qualified on both the Squirrel and the 429, but as a rule they’re not permitted to fly both types on the same day. Apart from the 30 aircrew resident in the bubble, 723SQN has up to 12 on Squirrel course at any one time and about 20 instructor staff, for a complement of between 60 and 65 aircrew. This number is increased by about 140 resident and between 20 and 40 trainee maintenance personnel for a nominal total complement of 221.

Raytheon Australia provides all maintenance and operational support for the 429s under the contract. Flightline maintenance and pre-flight is generally performed on the 723SQN ramp or hangar, while deeper work is conducted at the company’s facility located at the aviation technology park on the western side of Albatross. Technical airworthiness for these state-registered aircraft is managed through a dedicated cell within the Naval Aviation Systems Project Office (NASPO) in liaison with Raytheon, while operational airworthiness is managed by the squadron.

Raytheon’s RMI program head submits a report to Shand in a monthly meeting, at which the rate of effort and operational requirements for the next month are also set. Shand explained he and Raytheon have a “very good relationship,” and that he “gives credit to Raytheon – there are few issues and the vast majority of these are resolved very quickly. ” The three Bell 429s are early examples, being manufactured in late 2011 at Bell Canada and are the 47th, 48th and 49th machines to be built.

Indeed, their state registrations – N49-47 to N49-49 – reflect their manufacturer construction numbers. A 2012 Transport Canada approval for a 225kg weight increase for the 429 means the three RMI machines are currently being modified by Raytheon to operate at a new 3,400kg maximum takeoff weight, allowing an extra hour’s endurance or two extra passengers to be carried.

Managing the bubble

RMI is just one of a number of initiatives Shand has employed in order to keep junior aircrew gainfully employed while they wait for operational tours. “There has been a suite of measures we’ve used to manage the bubble and the RMI is just one of those,” he explained. “Even now we continue to send junior aircrew to operate with Air Force on the Heron UAV, we have some with headquarters Joint Operations in Afghanistan, and others with Army on the ScanEagle and Shadow UAVs. I’ve had no lack of volunteers for Middle East positions, and we also have two aircrew flying Kiowas with the Army gaining night vision device qualifications. ” Over and above the normal ADF exchange postings quota, some of the bubble aircrew have also done placement tours with the Royal Navy flying the Westland Lynx and the Sea King ‘Jungly’ commando units, both in the UK and on deployment in Afghanistan.

“The guys on the commando Sea Kings have been doing some pretty special ops in Afghanistan,” Shand said. “They left here as young ‘boggies’ and they’ve come back with a chest full of medals and some pretty interesting stories and experience of operating in a war zone. And some of those skill-sets will be able to transfer through to the MRH 90 and some of the roles we’ll be operating off the LHDs. ” Shand himself did an exchange tour with the Royal Navy and flew the Lynx, so he has first-hand experience and is a big supporter of the benefits of being exposed to different aircraft and systems in varying operational environments, and to different ways of doing things.

Other RAN placements with the US Coast Guard flying the HH-65 Dauphin and the HH-60 Jayhawk have also yielded some training and operational benefits when the crews return.

“Certainly those coming back from the Coast Guard have benefited as well,” Shand said. “The way their captaincy has developed and the real-world scenarios they’ve been exposed to are fabulous. ” But for those junior aircrew who are not given the opportunity of an exchange or other temporary posting, Shand said RMI has given him the ability to still guarantee them flying hours. “With the RMI and with our Squirrels, I’ll guarantee they’ll fly, so what they’re not doing within the bubble is sitting behind a desk,” he said. “That is the last thing we want. We want to continue to at least maintain their skills and ideally develop them during the time they’re here which is longer than ideal, but that is the situation we’re presented with. I will always guarantee them a flying position and hours on the unit and RMI was taken on to allow us to achieve that because it couldn’t solely be achieved with the Squirrel fleet. ”

As the commanding officer, Shand is nearing the end of his third tour on the Squirrel. Apart from the previously mentioned RN Lynx exchange, he has also instructed on the PC-9 at RAAF Pearce and was part of the initial cadre of RAN Seasprite pilots before that project was cancelled. While he wouldn’t be drawn on the politics behind the project’s demise, he did lament the loss of its capability.

“In many ways Seasprite was a shame,” he said. “I guess the capability on paper promised much, but it’s just the delivery and execution that let it down. Having operated the Lynx in that role, I could see what the role offered in an anti-surface scenario with an anti-ship missile. What the Seasprite was meant to deliver was over and above what the Lynx could provide, and having done the training with the Penguin missile in Norway, I could see what the potential was. But of course, the reality wasn’t delivered. ” And Shand is confident Navy has managed the bubble as well as can be expected.

“I guess in my honest view, Navy and the FAA have done a really good job managing it,” he said in closing. “We’ve looked after our guys and have kept them challenged, focused and flying. I tell them, ‘I know that ideally you’d go through to an operational unit quicker, but