Issue 307: Leading Edge

The Group’s two core functions cover information warfare and flight testing, for which it employs a large number of highly skilled, award winning personnel, a handful of aircraft and one of the world’s largest test ranges.

Put simply, AOSG is full of very smart people.

AOSG structure

The Group is composed of two wings and their constituent squadrons and units.

The Information Warfare Wing oversees the activities of the tri-service Joint Electronic Warfare Operational Support Unit (JEWOSU), whose mission is to support the ADF’s Electronic Order of Battle (EOB) by building threat databases of potential adversaries’ electronic signatures. The unit also performs counter-IED work and aircraft countermeasure testing.

AOSG’s Aeronautical Information Service in Melbourne provides the ADF with support maps and instrument approach plates to permit safe instrument approaches to unfamiliar airports across the region and beyond.

87SQN provides personnel to Tactical Intelligence Flights embedded in operational Wings throughout the RAAF in addition to providing combat targeting intelligence.

462SQN, recently relocated to Edinburgh from Canberra, provides electronic security to the Air Force and 460SQN, and along with the recently renamed Australian Geospatial- Intelligence Organisation (AGO) provides timely, accurate targeting data in 3D to the RAAF.

This highly specialised unit is the first outside the US to be credited for precision point mensuration (PPM), which is defined as ‘the derivation of highly accurate geographic coordinates using specialist tools and data drawn from GPS and space-based systems to determine aim points for coordinate seeking weapons’.

AOSG’s second wing, the Development and Test Wing, devotes itself to the ongoing testing and evaluation of RAAF and Army weapons and aircraft, and research into the physiological aspects of military aviation at Edinburgh’s Institute of Aviation Medicine.

ADF flight and weapons testing is enabled by three main units.

The Aerospace Systems Engineering Squadron (ASE SQN) designs and develops non-standard modifications, special test equipment and facilities, and is responsible for telemetry functions (including a recently upgraded Real Time Monitoring Facility). This is used to support ground and flight tests at Edinburgh, Woomera and elsewhere, and is manned by mixed civilian and defence personnel.

The Aircraft Stores Compatibility Engineering Squadron ( ASCENG SQN), with a staff of 27, including aerospace engineer and public servant Andrew Dunstone as its XO, provides the ADF’s subject matter experts on air weapons engineering and has recently been conducting successful trials on the RAAF’s newest weapons, the JDAM-ER and JASSM.

However, the Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) would be the AOSG’s most publicly recognised component and is composed of qualified test pilots, flight test engineers and flight test system specialists, as well as support personnel who maintain and operate a small fleet of instrumented F/A-18A/B Hornets and PC-9/A trainers.

JASSM: a signature program

Commander Aerospace Operational Support Group AIRCDRE Noel Derwort nominated the Group’s involvement with the AGM-137 JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Stand off Missile) as a perfect example of how the broad and deep expertise of AOSG is marshalled to ensure the delivery of new capability to the RAAF.

He explains: “Every component of that weapon as a weapon system is touched by AOSG, so at the very start when we look at how to bring it into service, we have the guys at ARDU determining the size of the test program to be done, looking at what the US has done or not, we look at the integration by systems engineering squadron.

“We’ll then build a test program flown by ARDU pilots and supported by ASE and ASCENG in terms of stores separation analysis. It will be flown on the Woomera range, which we run. The EOB and information warfare support will be done by the Information Warfare Wing, which works for us as well.

“So, for the Hornet to get to the launch point, it will need to have self protection systems in place, designed by JEWOSU, which is one of our units too. As it goes to how they make the weapon effective, we have 460SQN who work for us in Canberra, looking at targeting, and then targeting intel is also done by 87SQN, who do the intelligence support to the Hornet operators.

“Then we have AIS doing all the maps and charts. The aircrew are trained by the Institute of Aviation Medicine who also work for us. So every single component of that weapon cycle is largely touched by AOSG, whether it be in the introduction, test or operational service component.

“Essentially, no new weapon can come into Air Force without being touched by our people,” Derwort said.

ARDU

Qualified test pilot GPCAPT Ross Bender is the Officer Commanding AOSG’s Development and Test Wing (DT WG) which oversees the activities of ARDU and its 15 pilots and 35 personnel.

Generally, the Wing will be tasked by Capability Development Group and the relevant FEG to test and evaluate a given weapon or aircraft, or to identify deficiencies in existing platforms.

Bender explained the process. “There’s initial scoping. We try to figure out what we know and what we don’t know. And then we’ll seek the information to fill the gaps, and then we work out what we need to test.

“Can we use another operator’s simulation modelling or do we need to go to the aircraft? For us, the aircraft is the last resort. If we can get the info from another source, we will, but a lot of times the only way to confirm that it works is to go flying. Normally, through the use of simulation modelling we can reduce the risk and the amount of flying needed. ” ARDU’s current fleet comprises two classic Hornets (F/A-18B A21-101 and F/A-18A -32), three Pilatus PC-9/As and a civilian-registered, NVG compatible Augusta A109E, which is used to maintain rotary wing currency and SAR.

The unit is a former operator of the Beech King Air, but relinquished its leased example and now maintains multi-engine currency of its QTPs by borrowing 38SQN aircraft as needed.

ARDU also has the distinction of operating the only two PC-9/As in the RAAF to have undergone the MIS 910 upgrade in the early part of the last decade. The short-lived program, which sought to address obsolescence of the aircraft’s displays while adding a GPS, was terminated before a fleet-wide rollout occured. According to Bender, the unique systems of the two aircraft are supported by the same Program Office as the rest of the PC-9 fleet, and so present no great logistical challenge.

Both of ARDU’s Hornets are fitted with up to 50kg of special orange wiring embedded in their core structures, used to connect an array of test equipment to the aircraft, from locally developed supersonic camera pods to strain gauges and accelerometers. The two Hornets have also recently undergone an in-house designed instrumentation capability upgrade program, and both have also received the latest HUG 2. 3 modification, with enhanced electronic warfare systems.

When you go through your training you’re either a good pilot or not, based on how you can compensate for what’s wrong with the aeroplane. FLTLT BELL ON TRAINING TO BE A TEST PILOT

Aircraft -101 is the most visually distinctive, being festooned with a plethora of photo black and yellow calibration markings that aid visual analysis of weapons release, footage of which is painstakingly rendered in 3D using an engineering software program devised by a member of ASCENG.

Interestingly, both ARDU’s Hornets are the lowest-houred of the RAAF’s fleet. Aircraft -32 is not necessarily the least fatigued, however, having been used to extensively test for the self-feeding, potentially destructive aeroelastic phenomenon known as flutter, to which the Hornet is susceptible.

Bender explained how ARDU sustained its pair of F/A-18s so far from their logistics base.

“The Hornets’ R2s (scheduled maintenance) are done here, anything beyond that is done at Williamtown. It does create issues, but when we need them, we get fleet aircraft to replace them from 81WG, and we suit the testing to the fact that [the replacement aircraft are] not calibrated. ”

Test pilot

Six decades on from the heyday of the test pilots, as epitomised by Chuck Yeager et al, the image of the insouciant risk-taker stubbornly persists. The unsurprising reality is that contemporary test pilots, like ARDU’s FLTLT David Bell, are decidedly risk-averse aviators highly trained in systems analysis.

Bell is nearing the end of a three-year posting to ARDU, prior to returning to an operational squadron before becoming one of Australia’s first two pilots qualified on the F-35.

He sums up the ethos of the test pilot: “We go to great lengths to understand the risk and how to control it and how to communicate it through chain of command. ” He explained the selection process for those hoping to join ARDU as a qualified test pilot.

“ARDU generates a requirement for test pilots based on what’s coming up in terms of testing. Then an expression of interest is issued, you put in your application and it’s supported by your CO and then gets shortlisted, you come to ARDU for a selection period, which involves doing some maths and mechanics test, doing some flying, listening to lectures, and then there’s selection board at the end of that. If you’re successful, you go back to your flying squadron and at some point between that, and going off to test pilots’ school, you’ll come back and do a week or two of familiarisation prior to the start of the course. ” Candidates for test pilot are sent to one of several test pilot schools including the USAF’s school at Edwards, the USN’s at Pax River or the Empire Test Pilots’ School in the UK. The process of qualifying as a test pilot can take up to 18 months between course work and conversions, and includes hands-on experience on a diverse array of types.

ARDU’s pilots between them boast an impressive gamut of types in their logbooks, including Gripens, MiG-15s, Jaguars, Denel Cheetahs, Harriers and B-25s to name a few. Once posted to ARDU, budding test pilots undergo a reconversion to the unit’s PC-9s and their primary type, such as the F/A-18, and begin flying both types throughout the duration of their tours, expanding the performance envelope of the aircraft and the weapons they employ.

Bell described the difference between a line pilot and a test pilot. “When you go through your training, you’re either a good pilot or not, based on how you can compensate for what’s wrong with the aeroplane.

“You get rated as good because you’re good at compensating. At pilot school you’re compensating for something that is deficient with the system, so you need to be aware of the compensation you’re automatically applying. Test flying is thinking at a deeper level. You have to be aware of what you’re doing. Instead of it being subconscious control input, you have to ask ‘why am I having to do that and what deficient characteristic in the system might it relate to?’ That’s the biggest difference. ” Bell has been heavily engaged in the KC-30’s hose and drogue refuelling trials, a process that begins by asking the ‘customer’, in this case ACG’s Hornet squadrons, what level of capability they need and how soon. Relevant data is sourced from ASE, which in the case of KC-30 trials, included estimating the safest distance at which the Hornet could use its APG-73 radar on approach to the tanker without it affecting the Airbus’s digital flight control system.

“ARDU hadn’t done air-to-air refuelling testing for years, so we had to think ‘how do we go about gathering data, which points of the envelope do we test?’ “So, we spent in excess of six months in planning, and then conducted about 12 flights, each about three hours long. We’d use a chase aircraft because doing air-to-air is really fatiguing. It’s a high gain task and you have to be accurate. Up to a point your performance deteriorates, and you can damage your own aeroplane. And having a second Hornet airborne, one was testing, one was observing and after an hour swap out. Stop, go back. . . ” Bell explained further: “It took 35-40 hours per aircraft for the initial clearance. It was an envelope that was agreed to by all the customers, then following the report we put out, we go back to the customers and they say ‘now we’d like this added’ so then there’s another two increments added – either night or with different configurations on the Hornet or when the tanker is light, or at its MTOW, which affects wake turbulence behind the aircraft. Overall, there were three programs over 18 months. ” KC-30 trials remain an ongoing task of AOSG as it works its way towards clearing the aircraft’s boom for operational use, expected early in the new year.

ARDU’s Commanding Officer WGCDR Andrew Figtree explains his unit’s role in helping to achieve that particular project milestone. “We’ve provided a lot of ARDU personnel to assist with planning and conduct of testing, but we don’t have any people embedded in Madrid for the testing, it’s more fly-in, fly-out. We’re mainly doing support from back here, but the two FTEs and the Commonwealth test pilot are all ex-ARDU. ”

A Different Ball Game

For flight tests, ARDU has at its disposal a 60 degree ‘wedge’ of exclusive airspace stretching 120 miles north of Edinburgh, and if needed, the unit can deploy to Woomera test range, complete with civil and defence personnel to operate mobile telemetry equipment.

Rapid advances in computing power and simulation are doing much to reduce the risk and cost inherent in edge-of-the-envelope testing.

Aerospace engineer and XO of ASCENG Andrew Dunstone explained: “If we can, we try to test smart and put other test points into the program. In Australia, if we have the opportunity and it doesn’t interfere with the primary output, we’ll introduce other aspects into the test. If you look at our recent trials on JDAM-ER, all that data fed back into the initial release and allowed us to develop the next release point. In the old days, we would have dropped, say 50 JDAM-ERs, now it’s only three or four, depending on how big an envelope the operational aircrew want. So all that data feeds back, we come up with the next data point, test and feed it back – it becomes a giant, repeating loop. ”

Current and emerging tasking

AOSG’s 900 personnel have been heavily tasked in recent years, whether supporting operations in Afghanistan with electronic warfare support, or through the testing and evaluation of new platforms and upgrades to ADF air assets.

The following is an overview of recently completed taskings, along with the DT WG’s current and emergent programs.

Recent milestones

In the last 12 months, AOSG has completed a series of aircraft avionics and systems upgrades on the AP-3C’s of Edinburgh co-tenants, 92WG. These modifications included an Automated Flight Control System (AFCS) upgrade, Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) modification (in line with an updated international standard), AP-3C GPS/ Inertial Navigation Unit Upgrade and lateral vibration physiological investigation by the AvMed Institute.

The Group also provided OT&E support for the C-130J’s block software upgrade program.

DTWG provided Initial Operational Test and Evaluation to the Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft before the task was assumed formally by SRG, 2SQN and Nova Aerospace.

As part of the Group’s continuing countermeasures support across the ADF fleet, the F/A-18A/B HUG 2. 3 BOL chaff/flare pylon modification has been completed.

ASCENG, ARDU and ASE continue to certify new weapons for operational use, among them JDAM, JDAM-ER and JASSM. There is also a continuing effort to expand the Station 4 (centreline) flight envelope of the Hornet’s Litening Pod, permitting a higher field of regard for this passive EO sensor.

Recently, DT WG investigated the cause of limited cycle oscillation (LCO), a debilitating vibration experienced by Hornet aircrew when the aircraft carries the GBU-16 LGB.

A research paper on the phenomenon was later produced by FTE FLTLT Dane Peterson and QTP SQNLDR Darren Hughes and received the Ray E Tenhoff Prize from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (thus putting them in the company of Scott Crossfield, Burt Rutan and Ricardo Traven. No mean feat!) The coming year at AOSG will see testing of Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) systems, evaluation of new carbon brakes for the C-130J, ammunition and upgrades to the F/A-18A/B/F’s M61 Vulcan cannon, and ongoing support to Defence’s test pilot on the F-35 program.

One of the more intriguing tasks currently underway is the anthropometric survey of all ADF aircraft. Lasers are used to measure cockpits, and eventually, aircrew, to determine if future pilots and ACO’s body shapes make ejection from aircraft unsafe.

And a major flying program involving PC-9 fatigue testing (featuring a highly-instrumented platform) is due to begin soon and will be used to more accurately determine the safe airframe life of the aircraft so its withdrawal date can be planned for.

Knowledge is power

The highly-skilled civilian and Defence personnel of the AOSG are justifiably proud of the force-multiplying effect of their efforts, producing outcomes that have resulted in net savings to the Commonwealth estimated in the many tens of millions.

All three services of the ADF benefit from the diligent work being undertaken every day at RAAF Base Edinburgh.

As AOSG demonstrates, it takes many smart people to make smart weapons work.