Super & Growler Country

Critics at the time rounded on the opaqueness of the decision-making process, its cost and justification and the aircraft itself. Almost unaided, Nelson defended the purchase and made his case for the Super Hornet. Eight years on, the aircraft has been introduced into service without so much as a hiccup and is assuming ever-growing importance to the ADF’s mission. This pre-eminence will be further enhanced by the introduction into RAAF service of the airborne electronic attack version of the Super Hornet, the Growler, scheduled for 2017.

Rhino reception

“It’s really the tip of the spear,” says former F-111 navigator and Officer Commanding 82WG, GPCAPT Michael ‘Micka’ Gray. “The AESA radar is really the heart of the aircraft, it’s an outstanding sensor, you tie it in with the Link 16 network capability, and our EWSP . . . it’s really going well. ” Having assumed command of the Wing in December 2013, GPCAPT Gray oversees operations by 82WG’s two Super Hornet squadrons, 1 and 6SQNs, with the former as the Wing’s combat ready squadron and the latter as the type’s operational conversion unit.

Personnel from both squadrons consist of ex F-111 crews and classic Hornet pilots, many with overseas exchange experience, plusthree aircrew on exchange from the USAF, USN and RAF.

Reflecting on how this diversity of experience is shaping the tactics and procedures of F/A-18F employment in the Wing, GPCAPT Gray commented: “With the ex classic Hornet guys, we have decades of Hornet fighter air to air experience available. The F-111 guys had a lot of experience in air-to-ground – a lot of sensor and targeting work with ground forces and maritime, so it was a really good blend. Without doubt, the Super Hornet is an air control fighter, and we’re using it as that. It’s multirole, in the same sortie and at the same time. We’re operating the aircraft at a very high level with our tactics and procedures. ” Two years after FOC (full operating capability, 82WG continues to refine and develop Rhino mission sets, which can include fighter escort, air defence, force projection, interdiction, close air support and airborne co-ordination of friendly assets.

Central to the aircraft’s ability to prosecute these missions is its sensors: its ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod, digital ALR‑67(V)3 radar warning receiver and APG-79 AESA radar. Able to operate in air-to-air and air-to-ground simultaneously, Raytheon’s AESA permits the Super Hornet’s two-person aircrew to operate in a ‘decoupled’ environment in which, for example, the frontseater can be searching the sky for adversaries while the backseater engages a ground target. GPCAPT Gray explained how the aircraft’s weapons systems officers (WSO) are trained.

Conscious decoupling

“We take those suitable for fast jets, they go through Hawks, then are classified as WSO, which is aligned to the US system (especially, the USAF). Essentially, we’ve refined

The Super Hornet is an air control fighter. GPCAPT GRAY

those roles and responsibilities. The aircraft is set up to be flown and fought from the front, similar to the classic. But with the extra sensors and capabilities, you get the best out of it with a co-ordinated, well functioning, two-crew team. ” GPCAPT Gray explained that air combat officers (ACO) who are selected as F/A-18F WSOs need to be fighter aviators, a process honed as they progress through their training from East Sale to Hawk 127s at Williamtown.

Those who display an ability to think and act quickly, co-ordinate tasks, maintain good situational awareness and function in a crewed environment- at high speed and high G have the right stuff for a satisfying career in fast jets.

“It’s a great ‘office’ to apply a mix of Information Technology skills, physics and maths with fast-jet aviation. We draw people from a range of backgrounds and we are always looking for more high quality personnel, both male and female,” GPCAPT Gray said “WSOs are concerned with systems, targeting, big picture awareness, network, and co-ordination of the current fight and thinking about what to do next. ” The Super Hornet’s backseater also has a vital role to play in air combat.

“Both aircrew have the JHMCS – the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System. It’s great to have two people with that capability, so that the aircraft can detect, track and shoot aircraft from the front or the back seat. And the WSO comes into their own when looking across the circle of the fight, being able to engage high off-boresight missiles. That’s a capability this aircraft has and not many others do. ” “And we do train for that, with the AIM-9X missile, within visual range (WVR) shots can be quite fleeting, and can be the difference between winning and losing, so we use every means at our disposal. In practice, it’s a well co-ordinated handover/takeover procedure. ” A constant cycle of training and exercises ensures that Super Hornet remains ready and able to conduct combat operations in pursuit of Australia’s national interests, should the need arise.

The benefits of exercise

GPCAPT Gray detailed the schedule of training, deployment and public relations commitments met by 82WG in the last 18 months.

These included participation in Exercise Ventail, a joint EW operational test and evaluation exercise conducted on various OT&E ranges in the US, and participation in the Australian International Airshow at Avalon, Victoria in 2013, which was followed by the Super Hornet’s debut in an FCI course, held at RAAF Williamtown with the resident 2OCU.

The Wing later returned to Williamtown to take part in the East Coast Air Defence Exercise (ECADEX), a multi-week undertaking designed to “train Air Force personnel in tactical defensive counter air operations within an integrated electronic warfare environment”.

This was followed with an AIM‑9X and AIM-120 AMRAAM live shoot in the Eastern Australian Exercise Area (EAXA) against an RPV target. Further live ordnance training – in this case, high explosives (HE) – was undertaken as part of Exercise Arnhem Thunder, conducted at RAAF Base Tindal,which saw the Rhino expend live air-to-surface weapons on both the Delamere and Bradshaw ranges.

The Super Hornet also frequently practises with other services, as GPCAPT Gray elaborated.

“In December, we deployed to Williamtown to do some work with classics and the Navy, doing maritime strike and maritime air defence.

“This saw Navy practising air defence, ahead of the AWD capability coming along. This platform brings a significant air control capability, which it hasn’t had for some years, so Navy’s air intercept controllers…are doing a generational leap and we were working with them, to make sure they’re back into that high end air defence. ” The F/A-18F has also participated as a CAS platform in exercises with ADF ground forces.

“We performed a whole range of Army support and armed recce missions. The Army absolutely loves the Super – two-crew with more range and endurance, its ability to find targets, and engage them, or report them back to the ground commander. Using our sensors, we found and targeted a significant number of armoured vehicles within a very short space of time and targeted those. That effected the whole ground scheme manoeuvre.

“That was using a mix of the onboard systems. We can find the targets with radar, and FLIR pod, you can store all those targets and transfer them across the network, and pass them back to the ground force commander and he can decide what to do with them, whether to note them, or target and destroy them. ” Training of particular significance to GPCAPT Gray was the dissimilar air combat training (DACT) undertaken against visiting Alaska-based F-16s in late March. With engagements controlled by 2SQN Wedgetails, the Super Hornets tangled with 18th Aggressor Squadron Vipers in a series of BFM engagements undetaken at longer ranges.

A Super Hornet practises its display routine above Amberley ahead of the Singapore Airshow earlier this year. defence The most recent large scale exercise in which 1SQN’s Super Hornets have participated has been Exercise Black Dagger, in which joint terminal attack controller students direct the aircraft as they expend precision weapons delivery in ranges near Townsville. Conducted by 82WG’s 4SQN (JTAC training and Air Force special ops combat controllers), the two-week exercise saw eight Supers deployed to Townsville with the help of a 36SQN C-17.

With the completion of that major logistical effort, 1SQN returned to Amberley to then play host to visiting royalty, namely the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Right Royal Rhino

As GPCAPT Gray explained, strong links exist between 1SQN and the Royal Family. “It goes back to the Duke’s great grandfather, King George VI, in the mid ’20s, the then Duke inspected 1SQN at Point Cook.

And he was an honorary Group Captain of the RAAF at that stage,

You get the best out of it with a co‑ordinated, two-crew team. GPCAPT GRAY

then ultimately, when king, Marshal of the RAAF. ” While at the base, Prince William and his wife Kate were given a tour of a Super Hornet aircraft and then a flight in the simulator, with William, until recently an RAF Rescue Sea King pilot, in the front seat and his wife in the rear crew station.

Sustainment

The acquisition of the Super Hornet through a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) arrangement has largely dictated the structure of the sustainment arrangements entered into by DMO, who have overall responsibility for providing mission-ready aircraft to the end user, 82WG.

The DMO’s Air Combat Electronic Attack Systems Program Office (ACEASPO) devolves the majority of sustainment tasks to Boeing Defence Australia, such as ordering spares, arranging repair contracts and performing intermediate level maintenance. In addition, ACEASPO acts as a conduit between Boeing (the original equipment manufacturer), its subsidiary BDA, and the US Navy.

Last year, 82WG, BDA and ACEASPO launched ‘One Team’, an initiative aimed at introducing leaner practices to, and eliminating waste in Super Hornet sustainment.

Asked to reflect on the state of F/A‑18F support arrangements, GPCAPT Gray commented: “The sustainment process is maturing well. In the last couple of years we have been refining and maturing the system at the squadron and SPO level, and with our contract support through the USN. Everyone understands about getting aircraft ready to fly and keeping skills up, and we’re looking to really maximise the efficiency and productivity of that right through from when we schedule the deep level maintenance, to what aircraft we fix on the flightline in between flying waves.

The first of Australia’s Super Hornets – initially bought as a 10-year, stop-gap – are expected to undergo deep, programmed maintenance in 2015. Engineering support of the USN, the subject matter experts on F/A‑18E/F maintenance, will be crucial in the performance of this task, expected to be done at Amberley.

“We trade a lot of information with the USN, we aim to stay common in terms of upgrade cycles, in our aircraft software upgrades, and hardware, firmware upgrades, so we’re in line and tied to that schedule. In our servicing regime, we’re looking to comply with what the US is doing with their aircraft, to make sure the aircraft meets its longevity. We have a different operational environment. We don’t operate off carriers, so corrosion control, inspection and maintenance regime is modified to meet our circumstances, to make sure we’re not overservicing the aircraft…”

Weapons

Boeing’s Block II Super Hornet is cleared to carry the majority of USN air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons. Constant testing and captive carriage flights of weapons are ongoing, with two notable and recent examples.

In May, the RAAF released imagery of Super Hornet A44-224 toting two live AGM-84J Harpoon anti-surface warfare missiles. Although the Rhino was delivered with Harpoon cleared for use, very little flying had been undertaken with the missile, as GPCAPT Gray explained.

“Because we’re USN common, the aircraft inherently comes with the clearances for USN weapons, which includes Harpoon. But we hadn’t done a lot of flying with it, so it was really just an airborne flight to fully confirm that all the systems we had were talking to each other as per what we would expect. ”The requirement to stay common with USN Super Hornets meant that a range of new weapons entered RAAF inventories, specifically the AIM-9X, AIM-120C7 and JSOW, a modular, low observable glide bomb. Additionally, the 82WG’s F/A-18Fs are cleared to carry the Paveway series of LGBs and the increasingly ubiquitous JDAM.

In relation to the latter, GPCAPT Gray explained how this particular weapon was impacting on tactics employed in the close air support mission.

“CAS doesn’t mean low level now. Most of the ops especially in Afghanistan is done at high level. Either above the clouds or at least above the lower level surface threats like small arms and MANPADS. With JDAMs you don’t need to be down there. Before that we were limited to line of sight weapons, LGBs, but with JDAM you can bomb through cloud. ” Laser-guided bombs still have a role in the modern battlespace, and as if to underscore the point, 1SQN recently participated in Exercise Stoneage, a long-range strike and live-fire exercise. Operating from Amberley, Super Hornets expended GBUs -10, -24 and -31, and a JSOW, over the vast Woomera Air Weapons Range.

Gearing up for Growler

82WG’s operations are set to expand with the arrival of the EA-18G Growler electronic attack capability.

“The broad timeline for Growler IOC is mid-2018,” GPCAPT Glen ‘Blitz’ Braz, the Director of Growler Transition Office outlined. “If we work backwards from there, we’ll begin flying our Growlers – RAAF aircraft with RAAF technicians and aircrew – in January 2017. That will occur in the US, which is where we’ll take delivery of the aircraft. We’ll operate there for a short time before bringing them home, in two groups of six or thereabouts and have all the jets in Australia by mid-2017. ” Current planning sees 6SQN operating the Growler, and just as the introduction of the Super Hornet saw a sizeable sum spent on capital works at Amberley to support them, so too with the Growler.

“We’re turning 6SQN from a training unit to an operational unit and taking it from Super multirole fighter operation to a Growler AEA operation. There’s a bunch of things to do to cope with that, so we’ll be building new 6SQN HQ which will be very similar to 1SQN HQ. We’ll also have more jets inside the wire, under the 82WG umbrella. We have to cope with that, so we’ll do additional aircraft parking and shelters. We’re also adding simulator capacity, intermediate level maintenance capacity and warehousing. ” Much the same as the Bridging Air Combat Capability (BACC) office had done with the Super Hornets six years before, GPCAPT’s Braz’s GTO is an integration team tasked with ensuring crews are fed into the Growler training system with the US Navy at Whidbey Island at a sustainable rate with a view to meeting the project’s key capability milestones, and that the Growler capability is successfully integrated into the wider ADF.

During his time at NAS Lemoore as commanding officer of 1SQN when it transitioned to the F/A-18F, GPCAPT Braz developed a strong network of key US Navy, Boeing and other industry personnel, many of whom have since moved across to the Growler program, so he was a natural fit to head up the RAAF’s Growler project.

“I’ve got about 10 people in the GTO,” GPCAPT Braz said. “It’s a bit of an evolving journey at the moment and they’re across multiple domains – logistics, engineering,

GBUs -10, -24 and -31, and a JSOW, were expended over the vast Air Weapons Range.

a couple of aircrew including my deputy director (WGCDR Paul Jarvis), and an intelligence officer as well. ” The GTO reports to Air Force Headquarters (AFHQ), and works closely with the DMO’s AIR 5349 Phase 3 project team to provide the key project deliverables with an appropriate number of personnel. “The GTO and project teams are spread all over,” GPCAPT Braz said. “The project folks at (NAS) Pax River are primarily DMO project people doing good work closely integrated with the US Navy program office to deliver the hardware. The GTO integrates with the US Navy as well, with some people at Point Mugu and Whidbey Island to deliver the training and all those other outcomes that we’re making happen to enable this from a personnel perspective. ”

Structure & people

As the lead element of the RAAF’s Growler aircrew team, FLTLT Sean Rutledge, who commenced a three-year instructing exchange with VAQ-129 last September, will instruct not only US Navy crews but also other RAAF EA-18G aircrew as they go through the program at Whidbey Island during his tour. It is planned that by 2016 six RAAF crews – each comprising a pilot and an electronic warfare officer – will have been converted to the EA-18G at Whidbey Island, and that these six crews will form the initial core of the RAAF’s Growler instructor community.

“What we’re really looking for is a cross-section of people to come to Growler,” GPCAPT Braz explained. “There are still some folks around who have been in instructor jobs who previously flew the F-111 but not the Super Hornet, so I’ve got a crew who were some of the last F-111 aviators. We’ve got some people who were flying Super Hornet, and some who have flown classic Hornet. This is a transition period – with the folks we’re getting trained early we’ll get them experienced on the platform so they can lead the introduction of the capability and the airworthiness from the operational and technical points of view in those early years.

“Longer term, the primary plan is to grow dedicated Growler crews,” he added. “From 2016 I’m going to start taking graduates off the Hawk (lead-in fighter), so we want to start getting some of that young keen new talent into the Growler. As a result I’ve got some Hawk grads planned to fill some of the training slots I’ve got in the US. From the end of 2016 they’ll be graduating. ”The Growlers will be operated by 6SQN at Amberley, and in order to accommodate them 6SQN will relinquish its F/A‑18Fs to 1SQN. But because 6SQN was the designated operational conversion unit for the Super Hornets, and moving that function to 1SQN would create a large and potentially unwieldy organisation, the RAAF will resume its previous Super Hornet conversion training arrangement with the US Navy.

“What we looked at doing initially was taking 6SQN and combining it with 1SQN as it currently exists,” explained GPCAPT Braz. “While there would be a few efficiencies, it would become a very big squadron if we wanted to operate and train in 1SQN, plus we would still have to stand up another operational squadron with the Growlers in 6SQN. When we looked at the analysis it became obvious that it was going to be a very difficult growth target and transition for Air Force to absorb, so we had to look at other options. ” The RAAF will start sending new F/A-18F crews fresh off Hawk or other types to NAS Oceana from mid-2015 to convert to the jet with the training squadrons there, before they’re posted to 1SQN at Amberley. “When they come back from Oceana there will be a small team within 1SQN that will conduct what we call the Australian bridging course,” GPCAPT Braz said. “This will be four to six weeks of training the crews in the subtle differences of how we operate the jet and the slightly different language and terminology we use airborne compared to the US Navy. So effectively for Growler and for Super Hornet, we’ll have US training. ” Once the Super Hornet crews complete the USN conversion and the Australian bridging course, they’ll be categorised as ‘D-Cat’ pilots and air combat officers (ACO), and will be absorbed into the categorisation scheme and go through the training system within 1SQN. The unit will have a small team of instructor crews who will also conduct refresher training for crews who have previously been qualified on Super Hornet coming back to the jet.

Training & Support

Contrary to earlier reports, the RAAF intends to base all of its Growlers at Amberley and to establish its own support and sustainment system there. It had previously been reported by us and others that the RAAF’s Growlers might operate as an element within the US Navy’s training and support systems, and that RAAF jets may spend a large proportion of their time in the US.

“Australia is going to be autonomous in its ability, from Amberley, to operate, maintain and train Growler in-country,” said GPCAPT Braz. “What that means in terms of maintenance is we will have our own technicians and we’ll have some intermediate maintenance. But, as with Super Hornet, we are still going to have a lot of connections with the US Navy logistics system for those common components, and we’ll take advantage of the existing frameworks we have.

“From a training point of view we need to be able to conduct advanced training in Australia, so we’re not going to leave jets at Whidbey Island,” he added. “It also becomes very costly to take jets back and forth to the US to access test ranges, so we’re standing up our own electronic warfare (EW) training capability here. There are some components of the Growler project and the enabling capabilities that are yet to be fully approved by government, and one of those is the EW range. We have a plan

It became obvious that it was going to be a very difficult transition so we had to look at other options. GPCAPT BRAZ

at the moment to have some local Amberley-based training emitters, as well as some training emitters in the Delamere Range area (near RAAF Tindal) in the NT. ” The installation of an Australian EW training range will allow the existing air-to-ground range at Delamere and the various training aspects it offers to be integrated with the new EW range so that package missions can be rehearsed using F-35, Super Hornet, airlift, helicopters and other assets in a high fidelity representative environment.

Because of their similarity with the Super Hornet, it is planned to integrate elements of the Growlers’ maintenance support into that system at Amberley. And it is also planned to be able to perform intermediate-level maintenance on some of the Growler’s more unique EW systems, although some items will need to be sent to the US for repair and overhaul.

As part of the Growler project the RAAF will also acquire two more simulators to go with the two Super Hornet simulators already in place at Amberley. “We are buying the extra sims because we are effectively increasing the fleet size by 50 per cent in going from 24 Super Hornets to 36 Super Hornets and Growlers,” said GPCAPT Braz. “We are also going to modify the existing Super Hornet sims, so they will all be switchable between Super and Growler. That is a great opportunity because it lets us fly up to four aircraft in a package of any mix we like of Super and Growler, and we’re also connecting to the Defence networked training environment so we can integrate with other platforms and do combined simulator training. ” RAAF Growler crews will be specialist AEA crews, and will not ‘cross-cockpit’ with standard Super Hornets. “The training is designed to be all-though for whatever platform you’re on,” GPCAPT Braz explained. “You can step Super Hornet to Growler, but there are a whole lot of electronic attack specifics that make up a huge part of the Growler course. The Growler doesn’t have the same air-to-ground suite as the Super Hornet, but in the air-to-air program they do most of the same training because the jet shares a lot of that capability except for the gun. But they learn to operate Growler with the emphasis on the EA phase which is quite long – it’s four to five months of training. It’s a specialist aircraft with unique capabilities. ”

Growler configuration

The RAAF EA-18G will essentially be identical to the US Navy’s aircraft, and will offer the same level of capability.

As the RAAF did with the Super Hornet, in order to meet ADF airworthiness requirements the first two RAAF Growlers will be delivered from Boeing’s St Louis production facility to the US Navy’s test organisation in mid-2015 in order to complete a year-long flight test campaign in order to receive an Australian flight permit.

“The flight test program leverages what the Navy did for its own Growler development and acquisition, and it also leverages what it does for each software version,” GPCAPT Braz explained. “Because we have some Australian-specific software we need to do a flight test regime on that to make sure the software they built works exactly how it should with our configurations. ”The only other differences between Australian and US Navy jets is some of the hardware on the RAAF’s jets will be ‘sealed’ in order to comply with the US’s stringent export regulations, and they may run slightly different firmware. “We have the same equipment, but there are some subtle differences in some of the hardware that enable the Navy to export the Growler capability to Australia,” GPCAPT Braz said. “Those differences are about program protections – ours are capability-equivalent, but they have extra protections on them because we’re not deploying them on US bases where their capabilities are protected.

“But we are acquiring a US Navy common capability with Growler, and the Navy has been exceptional with its release of that to Australia,” he added. “The capability output is the same – if you get two techs to open the sides of a Navy Growler or an Aussie Growler, it’ll look exactly the same and it’ll perform the same, the differences are otherwise undetectable. In fact, the Australian Growler with those subtle changes will actually influence the Navy’s baseline for Growler where it will eventually be configured that way as well, so it becomes simpler for both. ”

Schedule

The RAAF’s EA-18Gs will carry the A46 serial number prefix, with the 12 airframes expected to carry the tail numbers A46-301 to A46‑312.

Production of A46-301 was scheduled to start at Northrop Grumman’s El Segundo plant in Los Angeles at time of writing. As with all classic and Super Hornets before them, the centre and rear fuselage of all Growlers is built by Northrop Grumman before being shipped to Boeing in St Louis for final assembly, where the first complete aircraft is on schedule to roll off the line in mid-2015.

After completing the US Navy flight test program, the first six RAAF Growlers will initially be based at Whidbey Island for a ‘shakedown’ program, before ferrying home to Amberley in early 2017. The second tranche will be delivered to Whidbey Island through late 2016 and early 2017, but crews will stay in the US a little longer to conduct training on the various ranges there and to work with the Navy on things like concepts of operations and other items to help progress 6SQN through to an initial operating capability (IOC).

The second tranche of jets is scheduled to ferry to Amberley in mid-2017, after which a program of local operational test and evaluation, integration work with other ADF assets, crew and maintenance training, and a general workup program will follow before achieving a planned IOC in mid-2018.

The schedule for a full operational capability (FOC) is still a fluid one at present, with the RAAF likely to be focused on inducting many other new high-end capabilities such as F-35, P-8, and Triton during this period. “Broadly, the ADF’s understanding of and ability to execute airborne EA is clearly a new capability pillar for us, so we will be focused on getting the aircraft, its capabilities, its tasking and its spectrum management all integrated into the ADF for joint operations,” said GPCAPT Braz. “It’s also going to take us a while to grow thesquadron to where we need to be with the right numbers of people.

“So while we are currently planning for the early 2020s for FOC, we have got quite a step to get to IOC and then let us grow sustainably,” he added. “But the other key driver here is that, across Air Combat Group we’re also dealing with the F-35 transition. We are going to do the hard yards with Growler early and get the core set up, and then we’re going to grow gradually during the F-35 transition so we don’t undermine that effort – the phasing of these transitions is very important. ”

Capability

The capability the Growler will bring to the ADF will be a multi-layered one if exploited to its full potential. Like the Super Hornet, a big part of maintaining that capability will be in retaining the close links with the US Navy and aligning any capability enhancements with the Navy’s Flight Plan spiral upgrade program.

“The strategy just like Super Hornet is to remain US Navy common for all those reasons we understand well now and we’ve seen work effectively on Super Hornet,” explained GPCAPT Braz. “We leverage that great experience and commonality with the Navy, and it creates not just an affordable cost model going forward, but also an outstanding capability baseline. It keeps the jet refreshed and relevant, and the money we’re spending is giving us great value. Growler is going to be the same. ” An important element of the Growler’s Flight Plan will be the adoption of the next generation jammer (NGJ) which is currently in development. The NGJ will replace the ALQ-99 pods currently used on the EA-18G and the few remaining EA-6B Prowlers from around 2020.

“We are looking at NGJ and those sorts of enhancements, but we’re looking at it in the context of the next White Paper and the Force Structure Review and those key strategy documents looking forward,” said GPCAPT Braz. “Australia is not yet funded to acquire NGJ, but we are staying very close to that program because clearly we’re interested. As the ALQ-99 starts to withdraw from Navy service early in the 2020s, we won’t want to find ourselves in a very expensive-to-maintain orphan fleet.

The ALQ-99 pod was designed inthe early 1970s to equip the EA-6B Prowler, and was adapted for use on the EF-111 Raven in a belly canoe fairing in the 1980s. “While the ‘99’ has been around for a long time, I can assure you the current configuration of those pods is still very relevant,” said GPCAPT Braz. “It is a modular pod system, so you can reconfigure transmitters and antennas internal to the pod, and that work is still ongoing. It has constantly been subject to technological improvement, capability insertion and sustainability improvements by the Navy. Many of the components on our 99s are brand new-build straight off the production line which is still live. ” Also new to the RAAF will be the AGM-88 HARM which is an integral part of the Growler’s ability to kinetically suppress adversary radar emitters. The RAAF is currently approved to acquire a captive training capability only for both HARM and AARGM.

The ARRGM is an advanced development of the HARM with updated software, a passive seeker, and a lock-on-after-launch feature which can counter radar shutdowns.

“The force-level capability that’s going to come with Growler is something completely new to us,” GPCAPT Braz said.

“There is a lot of subtle capability – it is a sensor and a transmitter, and within the boundaries of those capabilities you can achieve a lot of effects in terms of awareness and also, when you want to start transmitting actively, you can do things that are quite subtle as well.

The Growler capability will give us all sorts of options across the RF spectrum that are only limited by our imagination in many ways. So this is something that we need to integrate, we need to learn about, and I’m sure we will come up with great ways to integrate with our joint force to achieve the effects that we need. ”

JSF joint perspective

Hornet Country

Inasmuch as the F-35 promises a transformative evolution of the Air Combat Group’s warfighting potential, the RAAF is committed to a mixed fleet with the Super Hornet and Growler offering a potent, supplementary capability to the JSF.

“The Super Hornet will be a complementary capability to the JSF, which will probably be the dominant fighter out there. And Growler will go for many years. So, the Super Hornet is just a subset of that. I imagine we’ll be more common than not in years to come,” GPCAPT Gray said.

As for Growler, no doubt there will be much work needed to fully understand how it will best work with the F-35. It is clear that the two capabilities complement each other, and along with Wedgetail, Growler could support the F-35 in some scenarios. “There are a range of things we need to learn across the ADF to integrate the Growler,” said GPCAPT Braz. “We’re not looking at it as an Air Force asset just to support Air Force missions, we are an ADF asset supporting ADF joint mission-sets right across the spectrum – we’re there to integrate with the maritime and the land as well, so there will be many things to do between IOC and FOC to inform that process. ” Bought as a bridging fighter, and chosen because of its affordability, ready availability and logistical commonalities, the Super Hornet has cemented its place in the ADF’s order of battle and now, in the form of Growler, its signature canted vertical tails look set to grace air base hard stands around Australia for another generation.

It is, to corrupt a phrase from legendary aircraft designer Sidney Camm, an aircraft that got the politics right.