Issue 337: Plugged In

Airbus Australia is acting as prime contractor for the upgrade, which along with SATCOM also sees a Link 16 datalink fitted, allowing the C-130J’s full participation in the recognised air picture. To date seven of the RAAF’s 12 C-130Js have undergone the upgrade.

These two important capability enhancements mean that, regardless of where a 37 Squadron C-130J finds itself in the world, it will now be able to communicate directly with HQ, allowing greater responsiveness to an evolving tactical situation. Thus, crews can, while in flight, use the information they are receiving in real time to alter their mission plan accordingly. Such ‘dynamic tasking’ is at the core of Plan Jericho.

GPCAPT Carl Newman is officer commanding 84 Wing, 37SQN’s parent wing, and explained the significant benefits that accrue from the Wing’s networked Hercules.

“With the J model, we’ve added in civilian Inmarsat satcom capability, which is both voice and data capable. I can have the aircraft connected to either a classified network, or by unclassified internet data transfer. We’ve also added a MILSATCOM patch that allows Army or any user to bring their MILSATCOM radios and conduct voice or data communications from the cargo compartment of the aircraft and we’re also adding a Link 16 datalink capability that allows transmission of common operating pictures, recognised air pictures and data transfer of messaging capability. ”

Many hands

Apart from assorted aerials and antennas, 37SQN’s 12 C-130Js are also gaining an augmented crew station, as data flows that come with an enhanced communications suite would occasionally necessitate an extra set of hands in the Hercules’ office, GPCAPT Newman explained.

“With the complex operational environment we sometimes operate in, we may be using a number of different radio communications networks, we may have established a chat via our secret classified local area network, or through the unclassified network. For that scenario, we’ll have a bank of computers set up at an augmented crew station that can allow an individual to interface via voice or data and manage a comms suite if the communications become more complex than the standard crew of two pilots and loadie can manage by themselves.

That crew station is to provide the situational awareness and comms ability to assist the crew.

“We anticipate that on 99. 9 per cent of missions, a standard crew will manage, but there are some scenarios that may become complex enough, where an additional person on board will be helpful to manage [that scenario]. That crew station is to provide that person with the situational awareness and comms ability to assist the crew. That third crew station will also allow upload of software, for example to JPADS (Joint Precision Air Drop System), to allow the calculation of the release point and other critical mission information and have that passed on to the other crewmembers for those types of complex missions. ”

Dynamic tasking

The C-130J is by no means the first RAAF aircraft to be equipped with Link 16 (or SATCOM), but the ability to share secure, encrypted information via a tactical datalink has opened up the possibility of retasking the aircraft while its mission is already underway. This is otherwise known as ‘dynamic tasking’, and as GPCAPT Newman elaborated, it’s rapidly becoming an everyday part of C-130J operations.

“We practise that now in a number of exercises using existing line of sight communications capabilities. I have a crew going to the US for Exercise Green Flag at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. They will fly a mission for the US Army, and they may get airborne without knowing the destination for an air drop; they’ll have a load on board, they know the Army will require that load, but they don’t know where they’re delivering it. Then en route, that position data and the fidelity of the requirement becomes clearer and the tasking agency can provide to the crew the location of the drop zone they need to go to.

“Adding SATCOM and secure link capabilities increases tasking flexibility so, rather than the aircraft sitting on the ground, it can now be pushed closer to the fight, and by having the tasking information come through on Link 16, provides a more responsive outcome.

“Voice communications provide challenges, but providing the data capability through Link 16 datalink or having connection to a secret area network, that data can come through and be provided in an appropriate format for the crew to push that into the mission system and plan the final phase of delivery. ” Dynamic tasking applies not only to the C-130J’s crew, but also to its passengers in the cargo compartment.

“The enhanced communications systems also provide awareness for not just the crew, but the passengers in the back, receiving data and voice updates for their missions, so they have situational awareness to re-plan their mission while en route to where they’ll be needed,” GPCAPT Newman continued. “So they can step off the ramp, oriented, ready to go to conduct the fight to achieve the mission. ”

Customer satisfaction

Plan Jericho is, at its core, a roadmap for joint force integration between the three arms of the ADF. To further this end, AMG and Army have developed the concept of Air Land Integration which will see a more effective synthesis of air power and combat power in support of the land force commander.

GPCAPT Newman elaborated, “We’re working with regular Army and Special Forces to make sure they can leverage our capability to meet their needs. It’ll be a big part of our participation in Exercise Hamel this year, to introduce the capability that the aircraft now provide to Army. Of course, this new capability also applies to non-combative, evacuation operations or humanitarian assistance for example, that also involve Army.

Being able to re-plan or plan your mission en route is a very valuable contribution.

These are also quite dynamic and fluid situations, so being able to plan or re-plan your mission en route is a very valuable contribution. I see real value in a humanitarian assistance mission, where we could load an aircraft with supplies, not knowing where we’re delivering them, then an ISR platform can provide a picture of where the need is and another government agency may link in with our command and control system, saying this is where we need the aid delivered, they pass that on to the airborne aircraft and the aid is delivered in a very responsive manner. ” In another practical application, army personnel on board a C-130J can now be dynamically tasked themselves, and can use the aircraft’s SATCOM or Link 16 to update their picture of the evolving battlespace using their own standard issue electronic devices.

Nuts and bolts

Unlike 36SQN’s C-17s, which were fitted with a SATCOM system common to those of the USAF aircraft, the communications upgrades installed by Airbus Group Australia Pacific followed a federated model that allows for semi-autonomous upgrades to be undertaken by certified engineering organisations.

GPCAPT Newman stated that the upgraded communications suite being rolled out on the C-130J “is based around a design that the USAF has put on both its permanent Air Force and ANG (Air National Guard) aircraft. It has a similar federated system on its J models as well; we have some slightly different radios to leverage the latest technology which gives us more flexibility in upgrade paths down the track and links in better with the ADF’s Link 16 system, based on advice from our network managers in Canberra. ” The use of federated systems saves costs and compresses delivery schedules, as was demonstrated by the speed at which the SATCOM system was installed thanks to the efforts of the Capability and Acquisition Sustainment Group, Airlift Systems Program Office, Airbus Group Asia Pacific, Lockheed Martin, Ball Aero and Cobham.

“To integrate [new capabilities] into the aircraft systems itself requires opening up the code of the aircraft’s operating system itself and comes with a great deal of expense, though it does comes with some HMI (human-machine interface) advantages if we can do that,” GPCAPT Newman explained of the appeal of the approach taken by Defence and its industry partners.

“To overcome the expense and to bring about a rapid capability introduction without all the complexity of opening up all the aircraft operating system code, a federated system provides an alternate path to do that. ”

Coming into its own

84WG’s OC sees the agility engendered by Plan Jericho as extending to the usually ponderous defence procurement process. Such a development bodes well for the Hercules community.

“What we’ve been able to do in the last year or so, thanks to Plan Jericho, is to undertake procurement in a fashion that is rapid enough to take advantage of advances in technology in a timely fashion. In the past, long processes have bogged us down and by the time we’ve realised a given capability, technology has moved on. We’re excited by what Plan Jericho can do. We’ve got a C-130J with the NVG capability, the self protection suite, now this communications capability and all of the loads that we can deliver via airdrop precision, we now have a C-130 that is more capable than anything we’ve had in the past and is world class in what it can deliver and the capability it can provide. ” As the standard medium airlift asset of Australia and its coalition partners, there is understandable interest among the worldwide C-130J users group in efforts to expand the type’s missions beyond simply strategic airlift, GPCAPT Newman continued.

“The broader USAF is heading the same way we are, their special ops users, AFSOC (Air Force Special Operations Command), are with us or ahead in many areas with the J model. We’re very aligned with where the RAF is taking its Js and the Canadians have expressed interest in what we’re doing. ”

Upgrade path

The current planned capability enhancements for the C-130J are grouped together as Block 8. 1 upgrades. While being designed to complement future capabilities, the improvements to the C-130J’s communications suite have occurred outside of the wider C-130J block upgrade process.

“These communications upgrades have been put in place as a means of establishing the capability as early as we possibly can,” GPCAPT Newman outlined. “The Link 16 and Inmarsat SATCOM capability are very closely linked to what will be provided, in an integrated sense, in the block upgrades. The line-replaceable units that are being procured, the antenna, the hardware, are all compatible with the upgrade, so when we get to the upgrade, we can crack open the operating codes for the aircraft and adjust it and be able to use the capability we have now and integrate it into the displays that are already in the aircraft. ” According to Lockheed Martin, the Block 8. 1 upgrade program adds 10 new capabilities, chosen through a selection process involving eight countries operating the type. Containing both software and hardware expansion, the new capabilities include updated IFF (identification friend or foe), ADS-B, CNS/ATM datalink, enhanced inter-communication system, enhanced approach and landing systems, enhanced diagnostics, an improved PA system and additional covert lighting.

“We’re still looking at the block upgrade in terms of what that means to the fleet plan, and we’re still finalising the scope of the block upgrade and what it will entail and how that is then contracted through with Lockheed Martin for delivery. Once that becomes planned out, at any one time we might see one or two aircraft in modification, probably concurrently with deeper level maintenance servicing. That’s the methodology we’ve been using, for example, tying the SATCOM and Link 16 modifications to an existing pre-planned deeper level servicing schedule. ” The expected fleet fitout of the next upgrade to occur in the early 2020s.

Tanks a lot

GPCAPT Newman also offered a snapshot of progress on the installation of Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures System (LAIRCM) on the C-130J and range-extending external fuel tanks.

“The first four LAIRCM are being installed in North Carolina, the first one is due to come out of . . . installation in the coming weeks, and our second aircraft is about to go across to commence its modification. Four aircraft will be modified in America, but the final eight will be done here at Richmond by Airbus Group Australia. ” 84WG is currently in discussions with the RAF regarding its intention to equip more of its C-130J fleet with external fuel tanks. The UK MoD committed $12 million in 2015 to fit nine RAF C-130Js with external tanks, extending the aircraft’s range to 3,000nm (5,500km).

GPCAPT Newman outlined the utility of the tanks, which have been fitted to every model of the C-130 until deleted from the J.

“We’re in talks to learn of their experiences in working with external tanks and applying the lessons learned in the way we manage a sub-fleet [fitted] with external fuel tanks. It comes with some maintenance burden, but having that extra fuel on board not only increases endurance, but we’re using the aircraft to offload [fuel] to other users, like Army helos in the field or as a fuel tanker to support ground forces. It increases the offload capability that we have. ” The extra weight and drag imposed by the tanks would need to be measured against potential benefits they provided, GPCAPT Newman indicated.

“We saw when we had the H model with external tanks that they came with a drag penalty, but just in the order of five to eight per cent. The aircraft is plumbed for the pylon and tank, and where we can minimise carrying external tanks for missions that don’t require it, we would. There are benefits, but we’d balance them against the maintenance impost of fitting them and removing them. ”

A bright future

The RAAF’s C-130J fleet seems to acquire new capabilities almost daily, and on current form will eclipse the much-loved H model in terms of versatility and survivability. GPCAPT Newman offered this sanguine appraisal of how this once-troubled aircraft is performing a key role for the ADF.

“The amount of capability upgrade we’re pushing into the J is really all about being able to provide joint capability, as we link with our Army and Navy customers, to a fleet asset or ground force, to engage with submarines or ships if we’re doing a resupply mission to an ADF maritime customer or a soldier on the ground in order to provide capability to Defence, coalition partners and government agencies as required.

“It’s exciting and the fact that we now have C-17s filling the heavy-lift role has given us the capacity to expand the J into so much more than we were able to in the past. We now have that breathing space to be able to explore a whole number of niche air mobility aspects that we couldn’t in the past because of the air logistics support tasking we were focused on doing. I think the ADF has, across the spectrum from rotary-wing to KC-30, a world-class air mobility system now. ”