Keeping it Real

RAAF Hawk training enhanced by aircraft upgrade and new simulators

Training and simulation is playing an increasingly important role in the development of capability, not just in the Royal Australian Air Force, but across the Australian Defence Force and indeed into the commercial transport domains as well.

‘We had an aeroplane which was designed in 1999 and now it’s 2018.’ GPCAPT CHRIS HAKE

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In an air training context, simulation was previously seen as little more than a replacement for airframe hours where the per hour cost of operating a simulator was a fraction of that of a ‘real’ aircraft. Aspiring pilots were given time in the simulator to develop their ‘scan’ and muscle memory of the key systems before being let loose on the real thing.

But in the wake of the tragic loss of an RAAF Boeing 707 in October 1991 with the loss of five crew members while rehearsing asymmetric flight procedures, it was decided to bring training into the 20th century and to drastically upgrade the RAAF’s training environment to include high fidelity simulators across the force.

Simulators don’t just afford a trainee pilot or air combat/ warfare officer (ACO/AWO) their first opportunity to be immersed in the cockpit, cabin, or combat centre environment of their future operational aircraft, vehicle or ship.

Now, thanks to improvements in the processing power of these systems and the fidelity they offer, simulators can now be networked to augment real systems in exercises, and to develop and test system upgrades and new tactics.

LIFCAP

As aircraft are upgraded, so too do their synthetic training devices need upgrading in order to continue to provide a representative and realistic training environment.

It is with this in mind that Australian Aviation was recently afforded the opportunity to visit the RAAF’s new Hawk 127 Lead-in Fighter Capability Assurance Program (LIFCAP) full mission simulators at RAAF Base Williamtown.

The new devices were delivered by CAE as a key element of the Project AIR 5438 LIFCAP, which has seen this key fast jet training capability upgraded in order to better prepare the next generation of RAAF air combat pilots.

“The program is running in lockstep with the LIFCAP upgrade,” Phil Randerson, CAE Australia’s training solutions manager said in a January 24 briefing.

‘Simulators can now be networked to augment real systems.’

“One of the decisions that was made was to procure a training system that was going to continue to improve the training of pilots through the key introductory fighter course (IFC).”

The project acquired three simulators, two of which are located in a new dedicated Hawk 127 training facility adjacent to the RAAF’s 76SQN headquarters at Williamtown, and the other at RAAF Pearce where 79SQN is located.

After being awarded their ‘wings’ with 2FTS at Pearce on the Pilatus PC‑9/A (soon to be replaced by the PC-21), those pilots streamed onto fast jets complete a Hawk conversion course with 79SQN, before moving to 76SQN to learn combat and weapons tactics on the Hawk. From 76SQN, graduate pilots are posted to an operational conversion (OPCON) course on the Hornet, Super Hornet, Growler, and soon the F-35A.

While 79SQN has already conducted two LIFCAP conversion courses on the new simulators and upgraded jets, 76SQN commenced its first weapons tactics course in January.

The AIR 5438 LIFCAP program has seen several key upgrades made to the Hawk 127, which entered service in 2001, and which should ensure it achieves its planned life-of-type in the late 2020s.

The project sought to address five goals: to ensure the effectiveness and viability of the Hawk until its planned withdrawal; to address obsolescence issues; to enhance safety; to not only maintain but increase fast jet pilot output; and to adapt the IFC to match the requirements of increased networking in the F-35, Super Hornet and Growler.

“What we wanted to do, we had an aeroplane which was designed in 1999 and built in 2000, and now it’s 2018,” explained officer commanding 78 Wing, GPCAPT Chris Hake.

‘Missile training can now be conducted on the Hawk.’ GPCAPT CHRIS HAKE

“So, when we were doing this project we wanted to ensure the Hawk would remain viable as a technical trainer, a lead-in fighter trainer, right up to our planned withdrawal, which is sometime late next decade.

“A sufficient amount of time to train is important for our Air Combat Group (ACG) battle rhythm,” he Continued.

“Because we’ll start our OPCON at the start of the year, and our students for the IFC course, the introduction to weapons and tactics and fighter operations and culture needs to fit into that environment.”

The upgrade is a combination of elements from several other Hawk programs around the world, but is broadly based on that of the Hawk T.2 Mk128 program being undertaken by the UK’s RAF, and the Mk165 and Mk166 programs for Saudi Arabia and Oman respectively.

“Basically, what we have in the airplane now is the T.2 avionics package adapted for our specific airframe,” GPCAPT Hake said.

New systems for the LIFCAP jets include new mission computers and operational flight program (OFP); a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS); mission simulated datalinks including radar, weapons, chaff/ flares and radar warning receiver; the ability to carry an ACMI pod; a new IFF system; a new joint mission planning system (JMPS); a comms/ audio management unit (CAMU); the three new simulators and associated synthetic devices; and the associated technical publications and Documentation.

“Of course, technology has moved on since the Hawk was built, so there are also lessons and issues that needed to be dealt with,” GPCAPT Hake said. “So, we also wanted to enhance safety. The PC-21, F-35, Hornets, they all have ground proximity warning systems because of the risk of controlled flight into terrain.

“We also manage that through procedures, but if you can put technology in so the ground proximity system will say ‘pull up, pull up,’ or ‘roll right,’ to provide a verbal warning that they’ve got terrain coming up, that’s a neat example of increased safety where technology like TCAS can go in to prevent bad things occurring.”

Maintaining and increasing rates of effort was another requirement, GPCAPT Hake added.

“What we’ve had happen in the fighter training space, is there has been a classic download from the front line down to the introductory trainer of stuff which would have been in the Hornet OPCON back in the nineties such as night training and having a missile warning.

“Missile training can now be conducted on the Hawk as we added a simulated beyond visual range (BVR) missile capability, so the key concepts, the knowledge skills and attitude, can also be trained here. Now that we’ve got a whole range of new weapons and sensors which need to be trained, so the student can graduate from the operational type and go straight to the front line and be deployed.

“There are no lone rangers out there in the fighter force anymore raging around in their F-104 or their Mirage killing everything,” GPCAPT Hake said.

“You’re now part of the network, and we needed to bring that in to the Hawk. The airplane now can simulate that, and also can do a whole bunch of things like simulating RWR receivers from things like SAM sites. They’re not 100 per cent operationally representative, but if you indoctrinate the knowledge, skills and attitudes right off the get go when you’re on the Hawk, you’re more likely to succeed.”

To date, about 20 of the 33 Hawks in RAAF service have undergone the LIFCAP upgrade. Each upgrade takes about 15 weeks to complete and four aircraft are in various stages at any one time. In addition to this, prime contractor BAE Systems Australia is also taking the opportunity to address any fatigue or structural issues with the jets while they undergo the upgrade. All aircraft should have completed their upgrades by the end of this year.

The CAE-supplied and operated simulators are based on the Hawk Mk128 & Mk165 full-mission simulators (FMS) with elements

of the M-346 simulator developed for Singapore, while the constant resolution visual system (CRVS) is a Boeing product developed from its F-15E visual system upgrade.

CAE has a large training and simulation footprint within the ADF, both from a supplier viewpoint, and through its ongoing Maintenance and Support of ADF Aerospace Simulators (MSAAS) contract.

Apart from the new Hawk devices, that footprint also includes management, training, engineering, and maintenance capability for the KC-30A at Amberley, the MRH-90 at Oakey and Townsville, the S-70A Black Hawk at Oakey, the C-130J Hercules at Richmond, the AP-3C Orion at Edinburgh, the new MH-60R Seahawk Romeo at Nowra, and the B350 King Air at East Sale.

In addition, CAE is supplying P-8A Poseidon operational flight trainers to Boeing for the RAAF, and is working on a C-130J fuselage trainer at Richmond.

MSAAS and the parallel Aerospace Simulation Through Life Support (ASTLS) contracts allow for common contract terms and flexible work scope, and provide significant Australian-based engineering and training capability. CAE is currently the only ADF-accredited Approved Engineering Organisation for flight simulators, and is ISO 9001:2008 Accredited.

But rather than just providing hardware and courseware, CAE’s vice president & general manager, Asia-Pacific/Middle East, Ian Bell told Australian Aviation that his primary focus is to forge training and simulation partnerships with its Customers.

“CAE designs and builds some of the best kit, if not the best kit, in the world,” he explained. “Our focus is changing and, as a training company which probably, unashamedly, have the most students in the air domain training globally, we’ve learned a few things about how to train and how to deliver training.

“So, I think what we can offer, because we train so many different friendly forces, [is] inter-operability of training,” Bell said. “We are hoping to build a far greater and closer strategic bond with the ADF and, as I look to the future, I think we enjoy an enviable position in the air domain.

“Is it perfect? Well, absolutely not. But it’s like any marriage, it will have ups and downs, but we’re there to make it work. We’re there for the long term, we’re not in and out, and that’s Important.”

“We’re only limited by our own imagination,” he said. “And I think the important fundamental is to take a young kid and, we expect a lot, as citizens of our various nations, we really expect a lot of our military. We put them in harm’s way and we want them to come home.

“I think what we can do is play the very important part in getting them mission ready, equipping them as best we can for what we think they might face. And of course, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, you know, that’s one of the sort of givens. But if we can prepare them as best we can, we can bring them home safely, and that’s all we can hope to do.”