Critical phase

The new PTS will replace the current fixed-wing training system for all aspiring RAAF, RAN and Army pilots which is based around flight screening and basic training on Pacific Aerospace CT-4B aircraft at the BAE Systems Australia-run Tamworth facility, as well as the ‘Wings’ training with 2FTS flying Pilatus PC-9/As at RAAF Pearce, qualified flying instructor (QFI) training on PC-9/As with CFS at RAAF East Sale and 4SQN, which flies PC-9/As from RAAF Williamtown for FAC and JTAC training. There are currently 30 CT-4Bs operated by BAE at Tamworth and about 60 PC-9/As in RAAF service.

Just two bidders have submitted tenders for AIR 5428: the team of BAE Systems Australia, CAE Australia and Beechcraft which is offering a T-6C Texan II-based solution; and the Team 21 group comprising Lockheed Martin Australia, Hawker Pacific and Pilatus with the PC-21 and with a solution based on the Singapore Air Force’s Basic Wings Course conducted at RAAF Pearce.

It is understood significantly fewer than the 90 aircraft currently employed within the system – perhaps nearly as much as half – have been bid by both teams.

But the PTS is not designed to be a one-for-one aircraft replacement program. Its goal is to replace the current flight screening, basic flying training, wings, and CFS training elements with a new and more efficient system based around a single aircraft type and with a much greater emphasis on synthetic training devices. Initial flight screening will be conducted on simulators before students progress straight to the new aircraft type, and a much deeper level of industry support will be sought to run the aircraft maintenance, base ops, the provision of classroom instruction and courseware, and to manage the training and campus facilities.

The 2FTS and CFS elements will remain at their current locations, as will 4SQN, but both teams were required to submit options for a non-ADF airfield solution for the flight screening and BFTS phase. For its option, the BAE-led team has proposed upgrading the current Tamworth BFTS facility with new shelters, a simulator building, new classrooms, and a significantlyupgraded student accommodation facility, while the local council has undertaken to upgrade the airport’s runway and taxiways.

Team 21 is reported to have offered Sale Airport on the western side of the town, just 15 km west of RAAF East Sale as its non-ADF basing solution, reportedly with funding assistance or concessions from the Victorian state government.

Both options have their advantages. Tamworth is considered to have better flying conditions and already has facilities and a workforce in place, whereas West Sale and East Sale could share student accommodation, maintenance and other infrastructure.

As for the aircraft – the PC-21 is thought to have been the first choice of the RAAF for some years, but with the release of the T-6C the gap has closed significantly. The PC-21 is a faster and ‘sportier’ airplane, has advanced avionics and other systems, and its design is a newer one. But the T-6C builds on its familiar PC-9 heritage and adds pressurisation, an 18,000 hour fatigue life, and a glass cockpit compatible with or reconfigurable to mimic today’s combat aircraft.

The avionics on both aircraft can be ‘de-tuned’ to display just basic information for inexperienced pilots, but both also feature mission planning systems and air combat emulation features for advanced student pilots. Both aircraft also have underwing hard points for external fuel tanks or smoke rockets for the FAC mission, although the T-6C shares 85 per cent commonality with the missionised AT-6 which can carry a range of precision air-to-surface weapons as well as a high resolution EO/IR sensor turret.

Both BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin already have impressive portfolios of established training and support systems in place in Australia and across the world. So with the two aircraft offerings seemingly closely matched, the winning bid may come down to the number of aircraft the successful tenderer reckons it will take to support the ADF’s training requirements, as well as the proposed life-cycle costs of operating the aircraft and the wider training system as a whole.