Open For Business

Ten C-27Js are on order for the RAAF, with the first aircraft arriving at Richmond in June 2015. The type achieved initial operating capability with 35 Squadron in mid-December.

The sixth C-27J is due to be delivered shortly and the full complement of 10 will arrive in Australia by early 2018, Commander Air Mobility Group, Air Commodore Richard Lennon explained at the Avalon Airshow on March 1.

“2017 is going to be a big year for 35 Squadron as we take delivery of more aircraft and bring our training on to home soil,” said AIRCDRE Lennon. “Essentially we’re open for business providing transport for government and Australian Defence Force requirements. ” For the past 18 months, 35SQN has been training its aircrews and developing maintenance procedures and has spent a lot of time working with the Army’s 5 Aviation Regiment in Townsville, Queensland aligning procedures and understanding how both services operate.

“Our focus is to work very closely with Army Aviation and with the Special Operations Command to ensure the integration of the air mobility operation works seamlessly and is integrated within the battlefield, particularly with Army’s heavy-lift helicopters,” AIRCDRE Lennon said.

The squadron’s big focus moving forward is to establish its ground and flight training systems in Australia ahead of attaining full operational capability (FOC) with the aircraft, which is expected to occur in December 2019.

“We will continue to use simulators overseas until we get our own simulator established at Amberley in the next few years,” said AIRCDRE Lennon.

“The squadron will do ground and flying training themselves and look to use a commercial provider for the simulator support. We will slowly bring that whole capability onshore ready for the final operating capability which we expect will be towards the end of 2019. ” While the Spartan might look like a smaller Hercules on the outside, its role is more of an embedded aircraft in the battlefield area.

“I refer to it as a ‘fixed-wing Chinook’,” quipped AIRCDRE Lennon.

“That gives you the image of it being a battlefield capability rather than a strategic airlifter. It can operate into short airfields in remote locations and get into those airstrips that C-130J and C-17 cannot. ” 35SQN has been conducting a bulk of its training at regional airfields around NSW and in WA. However, the squadron is putting a lot of attention on ensuring the aircraft can work in our region and with partner nations.

“We will soon take the C-27J up into Papua New Guinea for the crews to get accustomed to operating the aircraft in the harsh and mountainous environments and begin operating the aircraft locally on exercise,” noted AIRCDRE Lennon.

“We have adopted the crawl, walk, run procedures with implementing the aircraft into service. We have gone through the ‘crawling’ stage and we are up to walking,” he said.

“The C-27J will feature in this year’s Exercise Talisman Sabre and we will be looking to work with special forces and, in general, air logistics support roles supporting this exercise. ”

I refer to it as a ‘fixed-wing Chinook’. AIRCDRE LENNON