Rapid evolution

Recruiting very politely told me that that was a wild ambition, for two reasons: firstly that I was a woman, and obviously that meant I couldn’t be a pilot, and pilots run the Air Force.

But I joined anyway with the promise that engineering was a great career, and I would see amazing technology and could travel Australia and the world.

I was one of the first 10 women who were allowed to study engineering and graduated with an aerospace engineering degree from RMIT.

I remember one of my first duties was as a pay officer. Pay parades were in cash, with a junior officer issued a pistol to secure our pay, and a salute was required to receive your fortnightly pay package.

I could not carry a sword, and was not allowed to wear trousers in public. But I did have a RAAF-issued handbag to carry onto parades.

As an engineer I tested many new ideas. I cut holes in the bottom of DC-3s to fit new electronic surveillance equipment, and threw Coke bottles with parachutes out of helicopters to see if they would work as water relief in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

I worked on Mirages, DC-3s, Iroquois, F-111s and Macchis. They crashed often and it was an accepted norm.

I did a crash investigation on a Macchi accident in East Sale in 1989 and remember the anger of some aircrew when we grounded the fleet to fix a problem with the BFCU (barometric flow control unit) that had previously resulted infour other crashes.

I saw my technicians subjected to noise and hazardous materials, and killed in maintenance accidents.

The Air Force in the 1980s was 22,000 strong, and I never worked with industry; we did the engineering, supply, maintenance, all in-house.

And there were other major issues. In 1991, for the first Gulf War, we couldn’t deploy any part of our air combat forces. It seemed my Air Force was a peacetime flying club.

Around the mid-90s, an ex-Vietnam veteran Group Captain engineer, Mac Weller, wrote an article titled ‘Are we really serious?’ It was then that the Air Force started to get serious again about our role in security and the defence of Australia’s interests. (That group captain took only a year to reach two star. ) It was also in the mid-1990s that Star Trek evolved, with my namesake Kathryn Janeway (my name is Catherine Jane) taking command of the starship Voyager.

That gave me some hope that my initial ambition to be an Air Force leader was possible, and that was cemented as the first woman, Julie Hammer, was allowed to join the Air Force senior leadership team.

Things then began to really evolve rapidly. Pay became electronic, with an electronic approach to security. I could carry a ceremonial sword, and had uniform trousers with pockets suitable for wearing in public.

I began to work on the latest technology, with industry, in the ‘classic’ Hornet, and deployed to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

I worked from the mid-1990s until today bringing new aircraft and upgraded weapon systems into the Air Force, and have supported both capability and people in operations around the world.

My vision of working on amazing technology has been true, working on Hawks, Hornet upgrades, C-17s, KC-30s, Wedgetails, C-130Js, Tigers and some interesting UAVs, and most recently the Joint Strike Fighter, Super Hornet and Growler.

Today there are seven women in the senior leadership team, and every role in the Air Force, including all combat roles, is open to women.

I am now in an Air Force that manages risk, and focuses on airworthiness and the health of our people. Losing people and aircraft is not an accepted norm.

As an engineer I am starting to see again the drive to test out new ideas, now through Plan Jericho, rapidly integrating new technology needed for operations and the future.

The Air Force is only 14,000 strong, and I work with industry every day for both acquisition and sustainment.

We are now an Air Force of capabilities underpinned by our people and industry, fielding operational packages worldwide: air combat, air mobility, reconnaissance and surveillance, combat support, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

We are a serious Air Force. And we can use air power for the security of Australia and its national interests.

And, like the leaders on the Star Trek bridge, we are now an Air Force that is on the journey of valuing diversity and the edge it brings to capability.

In 2021, the Air Force I joined will be 100 years old, and for me it will be a celebration of achievement. After 100 years, there will a generational increase in Air Force women, and there will be role models. The next generation in 2021 will not be the first women in every role.

My eldest daughter will have her 21st, and will see how the Royal Australian Air Force is utilising cyber, space and electronic warfare effects. My youngest daughter will fly the next generation of air combat, my invisible plane, the Joint Strike Fighter. And I will be a senior leader of that Air Force.

After 100 years, the Air Force will have the capability, diversity, leadership, people and industry base to use air power jointly in an Australian Defence Force.

And we will be an Air Force that makes a difference for Australia and the world.

AIRCDRE Cath Roberts is currently Director General Aerospace Combat Systems, Capability, Acquisition and Sustainment Group, with responsibility for E/A-18 Growler, F/A-18F Super Hornet and F/A-18A/B classic Hornet program management, acquisition and sustainment and Hawk lead-in fighter upgrades and sustainment. This is an edited version of her speech at the launch of planning for ‘Air Force 2021’, the RAAF’s centenary celebrations. For further information visit www. airforce. gov. au/Air-Force-2021/

We are now an Air Force of capabilities underpinned by our people and industry.