Australian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

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now I read Australia cuts deal with US Navy for Next Generation Jammer
Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne announced Tuesday that Australia has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Navy to develop the Next Generation Jammer for the Boeing EA-18G Growler, an airborne electronic attack aircraft.

Payne announced the AUD $250 million (U.S. $192 million) investment during the opening day of the 2017 Australian International Airshow at Avalon, south of Melbourne.

“This is a $250 million investment by the Turnbull government that will [serve as] future proof [of[ the Growler’s capability,” she said. “As this is a rapidly evolving area, we will work in partnership with the United States Navy to develop the next-generation jamming capability, which will ensure that these aircraft remain at the technological forefront throughout their service life.”

The Next Generation Jammer will form a key component of Project Air 5439 Phase 6, a future phase of Australia’s Growler acquisition program, which will upgrade the EA-18G to what is known as the Advanced Growler configuration. The program will ensure commonality with U.S. Navy aircraft is maintained into the future and will develop a replacement for the Growler’s current ALQ-99 jamming pods.

Payne, who is also a senator for New South Wales, was speaking in front of a Royal Australian Air Force EA-18G, one of two that had flown into the show earlier, landing on the tarmac at Avalon.

Australia is acquiring 12 Growlers; the first batch of four had been delivered to RAAF Base Amberley, southwest of Brisbane, a few days earlier. The aircraft at Avalon represented the first public display of the aircraft in Australia.

“The EA-18G Growler will operate as part of our networked and integrated force, capable of sharing electronic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data with other aircraft, as well as with the Army and Navy,” said Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies. “The Growler is powerful and flexible. It can undertake a range of non-kinetic tasks, ranging from jamming to blocking radar displays and suppressing an adversary’s air defense system.”

The Growler will provide the Australian Defence Force with a tactical jamming capability, which is only matched by the U.S. Navy.

All 12 aircraft will have been delivered to Australia by the middle of 2017, and initial operational capability is due to be achieved in mid-2018. Final operational capability is set to follow in mid-2022.
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FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
For 6th Sqn which transfer all her Super Hornets to the 1st Sqn who will become the more big FS with 24 fighters others have about 15 F-18A.

First Growlers arrive in Australia

Two EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) arrived at Avalon, near Melbourne, today, to make the type’s public debut in Australia. The two aircraft arrived to take part in the Australian International Airshow that will take place at Avalon this weekend. A total of four EA-18Gs arrived in country last week when they were delivered to RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland.

Just months after the last four RAAF F/A-18Fs arrived in Australia in late 2011, Australia voiced interest in acquiring 12 additional Super Hornets and exercising its option to upgrade 12 of the pre-wired F/A-18F+ aircraft into EA-18Gs. Of the original 24 Super Hornets purchased by Australia, the last 12 were built with EA-18G wiring and waveguides installed out to the wing-fold, blanked antenna cut-outs, and structural provisions for equipment racks.

A formal request for 12 EA-18G modification kits was announced in May 2012, with plans to convert six Super Hornets into Growlers beginning in 2015, and then to convert the remainder in the early 2020s. Within a year of that announcement, however, the Australian government changed course and decided to retain its 24 Super Hornets and acquire 12 new-build Growlers. Notification of sale was announced on February 28, 2013, with an estimated cost of $3.7 billion (US). The sale further included AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs) and the new AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM).

In June 2014, Northrop Grumman began work on the first RAAF Growler’s subassembly, known as a shipset, which includes the center/aft fuselage section, twin vertical tails, and associated subsystems, at the company’s El Segundo, California, facility. In April 2015, the shipset was delivered to Boeing in St Louis for final assembly. The delivery represented the 115th Growler shipset produced by Northrop Grumman and the first for an international customer. The aircraft, numbered A46-301 and designated AG-1, was rolled out on July 29, 2015.

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RAAF EA-18G.jpg
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
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First Growlers arrive in Australia


In May 2013, the Federal government announced plans to purchase twelve
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to supplement the Super Hornet fleet.
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No. 6 Squadron is expected to begin taking delivery of the Growlers in 2017; on 1 December 2016 its Super Hornets were transferred to No. 1 Squadron.
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As of 2014, the squadron was expected to achieve initial operating capability with the Growlers in June 2018 and full operating capacity in 2022

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All delivered for mid 2017 ! and normaly the 72 F-35A for 2023 !
So since about 10 years ! 3 new types : Heavy Cargo C-17, AWACS E-7 and now EW EA-18G not big AF but compact.

PHOTOS: The RAAF's first Growler electronic attack aircraft have landed in Australia
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RAAF EA-18G Growler .jpg
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Airbus Optimistic On Australia’s Tigers As Bell, Boeing Circle
Mar 1, 2017
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| Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
  • exph-0397-03r.jpg

    Airbus

    GEELONG, Australia —
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    is expressing confidence in the future of its Tiger attack helicopter in Australian service, even as Canberra considers early replacement of the type.

    While Bell and
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    , sensing an opportunity, spend on marketing their attack helicopters to Australia, Airbus’s local unit says the country’s Tiger operators are satisfied.

    Reliability of the Tiger in Australian service has improved considerably, according to Airbus figures, but it has not reached a level that the Australian Army is likely to regard as adequate for the future.

    An average of 3.5 Tigers were serviceable in 2015, among 16 Tigers in squadron service and 22 in the whole fleet. But availability is now about 50%, says Tony Fraser, head of Airbus’s Australian and Pacific business. A further 25% are available at four hours’ notice, Fraser said at the Avalon Australian International Airshow at Geelong.

    According to Boeing, an average of 88% of U.S. Army AH-64Es are ready for missions.

    A year ago an Australian defense white paper scheduled Tiger replacement in the mid-2020s, even though the helicopters were still two months from becoming finally operational, after protracted delays. Worse, in August the defense department said it would consider scrapping a planned project aimed at improving Tiger sustainability. That implied an even earlier out-of-service date.

    Smelling Tiger blood, Bell and Boeing are circling. Bell is exhibiting the
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    Viper and Boeing the AH-64E at the air show.

    Looking toward the then mid-2020s replacement date, the department told Aviation Week in August 2016 that manned and unmanned systems and combinations of them would be considered.

    Fraser says the Tiger is deployable and the army is happy with the aircraft. It has a bright future in Australian service, he adds.

    The defense department was also positive about the Tiger in 2015, before its change of heart, calling it the best attack helicopter in the world for its weight.

    Fraser points especially to the maneuverability of the aircraft, which Australia uses in the armed reconnaissance role.

    Airbus has also had difficulty in a project to supply the Australian Army with originally 46, now 47, helicopters of the MRH90 battlefield version of the
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    . Availability for the MRH90 is just under 70%, Fraser says. The company is working to reduce the maintenance burden.
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according to DefenseNews Australian tankers to get automatic midair refueling capability
The Royal Australian Air Force signed a research agreement with Airbus Defence and Space to develop an automatic air-to-air refueling capability for its KC-30A multirole tanker transport aircraft.

Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies signed the agreement with Airbus DS boss Fernando Alonso at the 2017 Australian International Airshow at Avalon on Thursday.

The agreement will see an RAAF aircraft involved in the testing of the system, which has been under development by Airbus DS for some time.

Davies also used the opportunity to announce that the Australian government had signed off on final operational capability for the KC-30A.

“A lot of hard work has gone into the development of this capability, and we are now able to go into the next phase,” he said.

The project is a two-year program to develop an automatic refueling capability for the KC-30's aerial refueling boom system and is one of four strategies in Airbus DS’s program for a smarter multirole tanker designed to increase the capability of the aircraft without major modifications.

“The automatic air-to-air refueling system is easily retrofitted to our existing aircraft, involving minor hardware changes and upgrades to software,” Davies said.

The hardware changes will include the addition of a vertically mounted camera under the aft fuselage of the KC-30A to assist in triangulation and enhance depth perception of the computer-controlled system.

The work will most likely involve the occasional use of one of the RAAF’s five KC-30As and is expected to last about two years before the capability is ready for service.

Alonso of Airbus DS also used the occasion to formally launch the SMARTer tanker concept, which is based on four key strategies. Other than the automatic air-to-air refueling system, these include:

  • Development of the multirole tanker transport as a command and control node.
  • Big data, which involves the expansion of the A330’s central maintenance computer to include mission equipment, in an effort to provide data for the development of a predictive maintenance program.
  • A “SpaceDataHighway,” which will improve the communications capabilities of the aircraft, including wideband satellite communications.
“We would not be where we are today on the program without the men and women of the Royal Australian Air Force,” Alonso said. “The aircraft is proven, it works, we’ve sold it and now it’s time to move forward.”
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I missed (dated 28 February 2017) Australian Army conducts flights trials of Tiger helicopters on HMAS Canberra
The Australian Army has begun flight trials of its Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) onboard the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN's) first-of-class amphibious assault ship, HMAS Canberra (L 02).

The trials, which are being conducted with two airframes since 23 February, are expected to continue over the next six weeks in Sydney, according to the Australian Department of Defence (DoD).

"We are doing a full ship helicopter operating limitation development on all six flight deck spots," said Lieutenant Grant Thaler, a flight test engineer from the RAN's aircraft maintenance and flight trials unit, in a report published by the service's official news site on 27 February.

The Tiger helicopters are expected to operate as forward scouting platforms, and as an escort to the country's MRH90 helicopters, when deployed from on board the amphibious assault ships, the report added.

According to Jane's World Armies, Australia currently operates a fleet of 22 Tiger ARH helicopters. The aircraft, which were delivered between 2004 and 2011, achieved full operational capability (FOC) with the Australian Army in mid-2016. The platform can each carry a combination of AGM-114M Hellfire air-to-ground missiles and 70 mm unguided rockets, in addition to a stabilised 30 mm automatic cannon.
... don't have an access to the rest of the source which is Jane's
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