Australian Air Power Today March 19

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Air Force | Air Power | National Defence

MEMORIES OF AVALON

1994

2019

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Volume 1 No 1

index

6 Cover story

Memories of Avalon

12 16 24

Contesting ideas: the importance of encouraging critical discussion

Is human dimension the key to successful automation?

The A-37B Dragonfly

10 30 33 35 36

38 44 46 50 52

56 Korean War Hero, Colebrook 58 CAE Simulator 62 Transition 66 Veterans Information 68 Territory Tribute

Air Power & Irregular Wars Air Power EBO Triton’s Prospects Tank Boost Cyber Attack Guidelines

Australia’s Defence Security Air Force Cadets On The Radar In Brief Exercise Red Flag

AUSTRALIAN AIR POWER TODAY

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Darren ‘Buster’ Crabb, RAAF News, Defence Connect, Pathfinder, ADF, Spotlight, ADF Journal, APSI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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Cover: A RAAF F-35A Joint Strike Fighter demonstrates its power during the Australian Defence Force showcase rehearsal at Avalon.

Photo CPL Jessica de Rouw.

Above: An F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, two F/A-18A/B Hornets and a US Air Force F22 Raptor fly in formation over Avalon. Photo SGT Shane Gidall.

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3

Wildlife Collisions with Aircraft and Detection Technologies The consequence of wildlife strikes with aircraft can be very serious. Worldwide, in civil and military aviation, fatal bird strike incidents have resulted in 450 human fatalities and 500 aircraft losses since aviation commenced, most of those within the last 30 years. Wildlife strikes cost the commercial civil aviation industry an estimated US$1.2 billion per annum and involve more than just the repair of damaged engines and airframes.

The wildlife strike risk is mitigated by applying: • Engineering approaches: designing impact resistant aircraft.

• Active management: dispersing, trapping, relocating, or removing of wildlife away from aircraft flight paths.

• Passive management: reducing wildlife attractants (e.g. food, water, shelter, roosting, breeding) on or in vicinity of airfields.

• R e a l - t i m e a n d p r e - e m p t i v e communication to pilots.

While active and passive management moves or keeps the wildlife out of the way of the aircraft, real-

time and pre-emptive communication keeps aircraft out of the way of the wildlife. But this is only effective with the use of reliable detection tools so that information about the hazard can be conveyed to the pilot in a timely manner. This allows the pilot in command to assess the risk and respond accordingly.

The technologies currently used for wildlife detection in aviation is very limited, especially in Australia despite wildlife strikes being the most frequently reported aviation incident.

Hazard detection depends largely on optical instruments such as binoculars and scopes which have a limited field of view, range and functionality during lowlight or night-time. Despite the limitations, these options are readily available and low cost.

New technologies such as active or passive radio assisted detection and ranging signal (RADARS), Infrared Radiation (IR), modern high-powered and high-resolution optics or electrooptical scanners significantly enhance wildlife detection.

Radars can be used to detect wildlife, including flying-foxes, in the vicinity of aerodromes. Modern radar units offer a user-friendly interface but need specialist assistance with data interpretation. Radars can be limited in range and have blind spots which can be overcome by careful placement, using mobile units or establishing an integrated network of strategically placed units.

There are fully automated detection systems hybridised with infrared and electro-optical scanners that can detect individuals and flocks of birds that are utilising the airspace on ground at any time of the day.

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) have evolved and are now used for wildlife detection and surveys.

They can be a useful detection tool if used strategically by licenced operators. With the benefit of optical imagery, videos, and newly developed computer algorithms, RPAS efficiency for capturing wildlife data will increase.

These developing technologies are an additional tool for wildlife detection and should be included as part of broader management programs. They are complementary rather than a silver bullet or new paradigm in aviation wildlife risk mitigation. Accurate data capture by the technology and translating it into useful information will need aviation wildlife risk mitigation expertise and well-trained personnel.

Ronel Jit Principal Environmental Scientist – Avisure

6

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Fo r e w o r d

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Australian Air Power Today: a publication of a new kind. With its broad scope connecting past, present and future concepts, this publication is dedicated to exploring, discussing and educating around the unique, often complex and many facets of air power.

‘Air power is the most difficult of all forms of military force to measure, or even express in precise terms.’

When British Prime Minister (19401945), Winston Churchill, made this observation more than 60 years ago, air power was still in its infancy. In the preceding decades to follow, air power has rapidly evolved to become a fundamental element in the conduct of modern warfare.

Air power emerged as an important element of military power virtually as soon as aviation itself existed, accelerated by the occurrence of World War I (Rand, 2010).

Whilst the expression came into

existence around 1908 - five years after the Wright Brothers first flight – it was not clearly defined until the 1920s.

As the role of air power continually evolved, the term was also re-defined a number of times throughout history to reflect the current environment. Some of these interpretations, although forward thinking and far reaching, did not fully encapsulate all the effects air power were able to generate in a broader sense.

Theorists and strategists were quick to make a distinct connection between air power and national security immediately after World War II (APDC, 2010). Due to the ongoing and evolving nature of conflict, these concepts have developed and broadened to encompass global endeavours in contrast to traditional local and regional pursuits.

Discussing the evolution of air power at the 2018 Air Power Conference in Canberra, Royal Australian Air Force Chief, Air Marshal Leo Davies, said: “air power’s reach, speed and precision remained important elements of a nation’s defence strategy.” (The Strategist, 2018).

In this age of rapid technology and communication change, widespread

global disruption and various actors and actor states participating in and changing the course of history in a much shorter space of time than ever before, these ‘elements’ are being given the careful consideration and recognition they deserve.

At national level, the Federal Government’s recent commitment of almost $100 billion to the development and realisation into service of new and advanced air power systems (Defence White Paper, 2016) will enable the RAAF to sustain a combat edge and generate ongoing strategic effect whilst it makes the transition to a 5th generation force.

I trust you will enjoy reading and continue to subscribe to Australian Air Power Today. We will seek out and incorporate contemporary and historical features, defence updates, resources for transitioning defence members, veterans’ information, air league and cadet updates.

I look forward to receiving your feedback on this first issue and encourage your input on topics covered in future editions.

Mark Eaton Editor Australian Air Power Today

FA18 Classic Hornets at the Avalon Air Show. Photo Michael McLean

9

C over Sto ry

MEMORIES OF AVALON 2019 The 2019 Australian International Air Show and Aerospace and Defence Exposition did not disappoint this time around.

Avalon Airport precinct, near Geelong, came alive between 26 February and 01 March, with a buzz and the roar of radial engines, supersonic jets, helicopters, unmanned aircraft, drones and everything in between.

At the formal opening ceremony, Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Leo Davies, welcomed visitors and promised the chance to see cutting edge aircraft and the latest technology on display, such as the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, part of the RAAF’s future networked generation.

One of the largest events of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, the airshow has proven to be an exhilarating, amazing and action-packed spectacular which showcased the aerospace industry and military aviation. It attracted aviation enthusiasts, defence members, aviation and aerospace professionals and members of the general community to the week-long trade exhibition and public airshow.

Not to be outshone were demonstrations from the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, ADF military working dogs, the Air Force Band, explosive ordnance, communication and engineering displays.

Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Leo Davies, AO, CSC addresses guests during the official opening of the 2019 Australian International Air Show at Avalon airport, Victoria. CPL David Said.

“Not only are all of our newest and most exciting military aircraft here but this year you will see and feel innovation in action.”

‘The array of aircraft and technology on display here is world class: it is diverse and a significant advancement from the airshow we had in 2017,” AIRMSHL Davies said.

Air Force personnel prepare a No. 3 Squadron F-35A JSF for display at the Australian International Airshow.

CPL Jessica de Rouw.

10

Air Force military working dog (MWD) handler, LACW Kimberley de Haan with MWD Xara at the Australian International Airshow.

CPL Jessica de Rouw.

Australian Army Pilot, Captain Byron Clarke from C Squadron, 5th Aviation Regiment with a CH-47F Chinook at the 2019 Australian International Airshow. CPL Bill Solomou.

C o ve r Sto r y

International visitors including the Japan Air Self Defense Force, French Air Force, Republic of Singapore Air Force, Royal Malaysian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and United States Air Force brought their finest aircraft for the duration.

Trade halls showcased the best of the aviation industry whilst there was plenty to experience at the RAAF Jericho Precinct where visitors were able to see and be immersed in interactive technology, primarily focussed around STEM initiatives (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

A pair of Juka, Yak 50 aircraft perform an aerobatic display with pyrotechnics. CPL Bill Solomou.

The next Airshow scheduled for Avalon takes place in 2021, also celebrates 100 years of the formation of the RAAF, and promises to be bigger and better than ever.

Flying Officer Kaitlin Flynn demonstrates a smartphone hologram device to a visitor of the Project Jericho Astro-STEM Zone during the 2019 Australian International Airshow. CPL David Said.

More than 600 aviation-related companies took part in the event, as well as government departments and other organisations. It was estimated more than 200,000 people attended the show over the week.

Two RAAF F/A-18 Hornets fly in refuelling formation with a KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport during a rehearsal at the Australian International Airshow. CPL David Said.

A KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft taxis past visitors attending the Australian International Airshow in Avalon, Victoria.

CPL Nicci Freeman.

The ‘Night Alight’ pageant was a highlight of the show with a series of high energy flying displays performed by various aircraft, lighting up the night sky with pyrotechnics and sparks, thrilling and amazing the crowds.

Two No. 37 Squadron C-130J Hercules prepare to touch down during a flying display at the Airshow. CPL Jessica de Rouw.

Background image:Aircraft perform an aerobatic flying display CPL Bill Solomou

11

F eat ure Story

‘It is ironic that the air power story in Afghanistan, both for the brief 2001 campaign and as a pervasive enabler of the mission creeping since then, has been as first-rate as ultimately it was futile.’ Colin S. Gray, Air Power for Strategic Effect, p. 252.

In many ways, air power is viewed as one of the fundamental, and at times critical, elements of Western military power. Its presence is tangibly visible even when not being employed to apply lethal force and its technology enabled capabilities seem untouchable in its sophistication.

Air power is also seen as a strategic advantage of the mature military forces and therefore an irregular adversary always attempts to neutralise this source of capability advantage. This quest has led to the adoption of asymmetric means by irregular forces globally.

It is ironic that perhaps the best illustration of the employment of asymmetric means was through a novel employment of air power against arguably the world leader in air power, when the World Trade Center twin towers were destroyed in September 2001.

It was in the 1990s that air power emerged as the supported rather than the supporting element in the application of military force in the pursuit of national objectives. However, this perceived predominance was short-lived since the war on terror in the 2000s reduced the relative importance and significance of air power, at least outwardly. With the advent of the US-led Global War on Terror (a term that has since fallen into disuse) the prevalent belief was that the global security environment had been transformed. Further, it was felt that this transformation made air 12

power, which had by now been finetuned into a precision instrument, less effective against emerging threats.

In the discussions to delineate the role of the military forces in irregular wars, what has not been appreciated fully is that air power is the only element that can establish the necessary superiority to achieve command of the air to ensure that surface forces could operate freely and without interference anywhere in the world.

S t a n d - o ff a i r p o w e r capabilities are able to dominate both air-land and air sea engagements.

However, there are two caveats to this sweeping statement that puts it in context. The first caveat emanates from the trend in surface combat to move into complex terrain where tactically dispersed irregular forces prefer to operate because they become elusive targets.

When man-portable air defence systems are added to the mix and the lower altitudes become contested air space, the assurance of absolute control of the air will not be universal.

The second caveat stems from the prevailing focus on limiting own

casualties, especially during the application of lethal force from the air.

This casualty-aversion tends to dilute the effectiveness of air power, which in turn becomes a limiting factor.

The limitation is particularly noticeable when air power is functioning as the principle

support for ground forces in that are contact with, and pursuing an ephemeral adversary.

In these circumstances, the strategic value of obtaining absolute control of the air is also diminished, even when countering irregular forces with absolutely no air power capabilities.

Irregular wars act as a limiting factor in the effectiveness of air power— from benign to the lethal application of force.

In the European theatre of operations in the 1990s the application of air power in the pursuit of national and coalition objectives was a resounding

F e a tu r e Sto r y

success. Air power was applied in its most sophisticated technical form and achieved spectacular tactical results that contributed directly to strategic victory. However, in the 2000s, air power applied against irregular adversaries in almost perfect technical tactical co-ordination at its precise and proportional best, did not deliver the sought after strategic victory even after two decades. Why did air power not deliver a strategically decisive end-state despite having achieved near-perfection in creating the desired effects?

There are many contributory factors, at all levels of war, to this diminishing return from high-end air power in irregular conflicts. Even so, the primary reason is the very perfection that has been achieved by air power in the technical-tactical sphere. The near perfection of the application of air power has motivated and forced the irregular adversary to find ways to neutralise the

Perhaps only a catastrophic nuclear war can create a truly conclusive end-state through the application of air power.

Hopefully this will remain an unlikely event.

Ever since the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, the strategic narrative regarding air power and its application has been marred by the tactical errors that have been committed. There are numerous examples of missions that should not have been undertaken and therefore have led to highly publicised failures.

Analysis shows that the fault lies not in the application of air power but in the misconstrued theories that underpin its application, which are developed without sufficient appreciation of the contextual nature of conflicts and wars.

A theory that suits a conventional war will not lend itself to being adapted to irregular wars.

Air power, of

no equivalent to compare. However, air power is not the panacea to all the mistakes in the application of force, which tend to detract from the ultimate aim of winning the battle, campaign and ultimately the war.

A retrospective look at the employment of air power in irregular wars indicate that the need is for a broader spread in its application that leverages its inherent flexibility couched in its precision and proportionality.

Employed contextually, air power can create the exact effect necessary to turn the tide of an irregular conflict; even one that seems to be heading towards a complex and protracted situation.

Author Pathfinder http://airpower.airforce. gov.au Picture above: Royal Australian Air Force officer controls the airspace during the advanced forward observers course.

Main picture A Royal Australian Air Force C-17 Globemaster takes off from the Multinational Base Tarin Kowt.

tremendous advantage that air power provides to conventional military forces. Air supremacy invites recourse to asymmetry—that is what happened in the early 2000s, a classic case of the superiority edge being whittled away until it becomes non-existent.

Another factor that contributes to the dilution of air power application, and one that is normally not discussed by air power enthusiasts, is that however important air power may be to winning the battle, campaign or war in an irregular conflict, it is only one part of the broader struggle for creating lasting influence among the people.

all the elements of military and/or national power, is most prone to being directly influenced by the context of its application. The context therefore becomes a critical factor in the success or failure of air power.

As an element of national power, air power ’s technical-tactical excellence and its ability to apply precise, proportionate and discriminatory force has reached unparalleled levels in the annals of war and conflict, in the past d e c a d e . S i m i l a r l y, t h e i n h e r e n t spread of its capabilities and the broad spectrum of its employment— from delivering humanitarian aid to the lethal application of force—have

KEY POINTS • In the 1990s air power emerged as the supported rather than the supporting element in the application of military force in the pursuit of national objectives.

• When appropriately employed, stand-off air power capabilities are able to dominate both air-land and air-sea engagements.

• Air power is highly prone to being directly influenced by the context of its application

13

F eat ure Story

Contesting ideas: the importance of encouraging critical discussion Wing Commander Travis Hallen, Royal Australian Air Force Air power is not a static concept; rather it must be studied, reflected upon, debated, and challenged. As air-minded members of the profession of arms, Air Force personnel have a responsibility to participate in this contest of ideas. It is far, far better that we should respectfully engage in that contest than to hide our thoughts, only to find them wanting when it matters most.

Air Marshal Leo Davies, Chief of Air Force, August 20171 The effectiveness of Australian air power depends on the intellect of the airmen that employ it.2 Such a statement may seem trite at first but the reality is that airmen spend precious little time developing their faculties for reasoning and critical thinking.

There are many reasons why critical thinking skills attract such little attention but, in my experience, one of the main factors is the heavy focus placed on technical mastery. There is a culturally engrained belief that knowledge of and proficiency in tactics, systems and processes are the key to effective air power. This belief has been enabled by the favourable technology gap that Western militaries have enjoyed since the end of World War 2.

Although technology will continue to play an important role in providing a qualitative edge over some adversaries, global military modernisation is reducing the West’s accustomed technological advantage, making it increasingly difficult and costly to maintain a qualitative edge through technology alone. Success in the future battlespace will therefore rest on the development of innovative and creative approaches, and organisation of military force that will provide a capability advantage, 14

albeit a transitory one, over future adversaries.

In the US, the development of the Obama-era ‘Third Offset Strategy’ was an explicit response to this emerging challenge. In outlining the strategy, thenDeputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work placed critical and innovative thinking about new operational concepts and organisational structures on par with the development of new technologies in the pursuit of continued strategic advantage for the US military.3 The situation is no different in Australia.

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is in the process of becoming one of the most technologically sophisticated air forces in the world.

However, the introduction into service of the F-35A Lightning II, P-8A Poseidon and EA-18G Growler alone will not provide the RAAF with a capability edge over adversaries in the future battlespace. There is no question that the RAAF will rapidly adapt to the introduction of these and other new systems—and will no doubt achieve a high degree of technical mastery in the

operation.

However, a high level of technical proficiency in the operation of systems will be a necessary though not sufficient condition for future success. Achieving and maintaining an advantage over our future adversaries will require innovative approaches to the way air power is developed, organised and employed.

Innovative applications of air power require airmen who can understand context, anticipate change, and adapt the development and application of air power in response to complex operational challenges as they emerge.

The RAAF understands this; ongoing improvements to the professional military education and training system since 2009, and the creation of Plan JERICHO in 2015, reflect a commitment to developing professional mastery and innovative thinking at both the individual and organisational level. But there are limits to the current system.

Air Force professional military education and training remains skewed towards providing knowledge, not developing critical thinking or argumentation skills.

As a result, the RAAF lacks effective mechanisms and processes to foster critical discussion within the organisation. Without these mechanisms

F e a tu r e Sto r y

in place, the RAAF cannot develop, let alone exploit, the diversity of thought and perspectives that provide the foundation for the innovative application of air power.

This is not to suggest that RAAF policies, doctrines and operational concepts are not regularly subjected to internal critique. Any visitor to a crew room or mess will undoubtedly hear robust and lively debate on various aspects of Air Force life and operations; however, these types of unstructured discussions add little to organisational and operational innovation. Mess debate rarely involves the in-depth analysis of key issues and validation of core assumptions that separates the airing of grievances from effective argumentation. Although useful as

an outlet for voicing opinions on the organisation, these are not the forums for engaging in the contest of ideas that is needed.

Outlets for critical discussion and debate on Australian air power issues do exist; the Australian Defence Force Journal and the Air Power Development Centre’s working paper series provide a means through which to draw attention to current and future air power issues.

However, they are not often used by airmen; the length and academic style requirements for these publications have acted as a deterrent for many to contribute. What has been lacking, until recently, has been a less formal and less academically rigorous outlet for debate that is more accessible for those unwilling or unable to invest the

significant time required to research and write a 3500+ word article conforming with academic writing standards.

A positive sign that progress is being made to create a more accessible means to engage in critical discussion has been the burgeoning of public online and digital forums addressing Australian defence issues over the past couple of years. Blogs such as Army’s The Cove and the Williams Foundation’s The Central Blue, podcasts like The Dead Prussian and actual physical forums such the ‘Defence Entrepreneurs’ Forum-Australia’ have diversified the character and content of public debate on defence issues.4 The Australian Defence Force Journal has introduced an opinion/ commentary section, simplifying

Battle-spaces are getting more complex, and we must adapt and integrate to meet the challenges and opportunities afforded by new technologies.

15

F eat ure Story

requirements and thereby encouraging more serving members to articulate ideas and engage in critical discussions.

Although these new outlets may not require strict adherence to academic strictures, they still place a premium on reasoning and expression, thereby promoting the development of effective argumentation skills.

The public nature of these forums does, however, limit their utility as a forum for candid critical discussion on certain topics. Contributions must be unclassified, which severely limits the scope of the topics that can be discussed and the depth of the analysis and discussion that can be engaged in.

Even if the topic is not of a classified nature, there are risks associated with the promotion of critical debate on organisational issues in public forums.

The furore surrounding Captain Sally Williamson’s opinion piece on ‘Sex and War: a conversation Army has to have’ that appeared on Army’s Land Power Forum on 6 November 2017, and was removed on 15 November,

highlights how the discussion of defence matters in public forums can be counterproductive.5 But learning how to engage in public discussion in an appropriate and constructive way is itself an important part of an educational process that aims to develop professional mastery in the workforce. We should not be shying away from the challenges of engaging in critical discussions in the public domain by creating unnecessarily burdensome hoops to be jumped through before publication. Instead, we should develop mechanisms and procedures that integrate educational, mentoring, editorial and approval roles into a simple and timely process to support members engaging in professional discussion on issues that matter to Air Force.

Ideally, this should be implemented at the local command level. Commanders have the responsibility to develop their workforce towards the attainment of professional mastery. This responsibility extends to fostering the development of critical thinking and argumentation

Aviation High School is a small, quality independent public school that excels in student academic achievement in all areas of the Junior (Year 7-9) and Senior (Year 10-12) curriculum. We offer all of our students many opportunities to excel in any field in which they are interested. Our affiliation with the Aerospace Project Schools Gateway and partnership with Qantas sets us apart through our opportunities for students to engage in aircraft maintenance and engineering, cabin crew, pilot courses, unmanned aircraft vehicles and aerospace studies.

skills necessary to engage in the contest of ideas that will play a key role in generating the creative and innovative approaches to air power needed to ensure a continued capability advantage into the future. The creation of an ecosystem of outlets for the

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F e a tu r e Sto r y

critical discourse is a necessary but not sufficient requirement for the promotion of a contest of ideas about the future of Australian air power. What is needed is for airmen to become active within the various forums, presenting their ideas, defending them, challenging those of others, and modifying their views based on the progress of the debate.

This will require a cultural shift within Air Force that sees participation in the open debate on air power issues as not only permitted but actively encouraged, mentored and supported.

This is starting to occur at the higher level of the organisation as Chief of Air Force’s comment quoted at the opening of this commentary attests. However, the risks associated with public comment generate an understandable reticence among some senior officers to encourage open debate. This needs to change.

Not every subject of interest to defence is amenable to public discussion, nor is every airman suited to engaging in public debate. However,

we need to find a way to enable those with ideas to disseminate, have them tested, validated, adapted and, if appropriate, implemented in order to ensure that Australian air power is in the best possible position to success into the future.

This contest of ideas will be critical to ensuring that Air Force is ready and able to adapt to the dynamic and complex operating environments of the future.

Accordingly, we must start to view the development of critical thinking skills and the fostering of critical discussions within Air Force as key components of our strategy to maintain a competitive advantage over future adversaries.

We must not fear debate, we must encourage it.

Notes 1 ‘A Central Blue debrief with Air Marshal Leo Davies, AO, CSC – Chief of Air Force’, The Central Blue [website].

20 August 2017, available at <http:// centralblue. williamsfoundation.org.au/ a-central-blue-debrief-with-airmarshalleo-davies-ao-csc-chief-of-air-force/>

accessed 9 January 2018.

2 Air Force has adopted ‘airmen’ as a gender-neutral term covering both sexes.

3 Bob Work, ‘National Defense University Convocation’, speech to National Defense University, 5 August 2014, available at <https://www.defense. gov/News/Speeches/ Article/605598> accessed 28 November 2017.

4 ‘The Cove’, <https://www cove. org.au>; ‘The Central Blue’, <http:// centralblue.williamsfoundation.org. au>; ‘The Dead Prussian’, <http:// www.thedeadprussian. com>; and ‘DEF Australia’, Grounded Curiosity [website], <https://groundedcuriosity. com/category/defaus> all accessed 9 January 2018.

5 Sam McPhee, ‘Australian Army captain recommends soldiers should be visited on the front line by prostitutes to “relieve stress”’, Daily Mail [website], 4 December 2017, available at <http:/ www.dailymail. co.uk/ news/article-5141151 Australianarmy-captain-saysprostitutes- allowed. html> accessed 9 January 2018.

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F eat ure Story

Is the human dimension the key to successful automation?

By Ryan Lake The field of aviation automation is rapidly expanding and has been continually doing so since its earliest introduction in the mid-1950s. When we consider the data presented on the history of aviation accidents, there is clearly a significant reduction in incidents in the late 50s and 60s (ICAO, 1998). Although not the only factor, the introduction of automated systems aimed at eliminating negative factors on human performance has made a clear impact on aviation safety (Chialastri, 2012).

It is worthwhile to note that past the spike in the mid-â&#x20AC;&#x2122;70s, the occurrence rate of aviation incidents has not continued to significantly reduce (ICAO, 1998). Both Oster et al. (2010) and the ATSB (1996) in separate studies of aviation accidents concluded that the pilot was the main causal factor in the accident, suggesting that although automation technology has continued to rapidly improve in both sophistication and reliability.

It has had an apparently disproportionate net result on aviation 18

safety and improving pilot performance.

This initially perplexing observation can nevertheless be explained through the analysis of the human factors component or the human-automation co-ordination. This essay will discuss the reasons for concern in this regard, detailing the effects of poorly adapted automation on human performance and how it can occur. It will then investigate the modern aviation-system designer approach towards the human dimension of automation and how that approach has developed over time.

Finally, we will look at what the consideration of human factors discipline can achieve towards perfecting human automation coordination on the flight deck.

Unintended effects on human performance The basic problems identified with control of an aircraft using a flight management system can be described by three common questions asked by flight crew; What is it doing?,Why did it do that? and What will it do next?

(James et al., 1993). Although there are a number of serious issues that can arise when a system designer neglects to consider the human component of an automated system, these three fundamental questions sum up the crux of the problem. What is often briefly described as; situational awareness.

According to Endsley (1996)

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achieving situational awareness is one of the most challenging aspects of these operatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; jobs and is central to good decision making and performance.

In that context Endsley is writing with regards to all workers in highly complex and dynamic systems but the application to aviation is seamless and in the context of aviation, when we understand and apply the concept of situational awareness to the system design process; we can achieve truly effective human-automation coordination.

For the system designer to safeguard against loss of situation awareness they must understand its causation.

Humans are naturally poor supervisors of highly automated systems that keep them in a state of mental underload. It has been largely reported that mental underload and overload can negatively influence performance (Xie & Salvendy, 2000).

What this means is that in a highly automated system, the user is potentially left too little to do in the system process and falls out of the loop.

This out-of-the-loop performance issue is suggested to occur through vigilance and complacency problems, shifting from active to passive roles in the system and changes in feedback to the operator (Endsley,1996). The opposite of this can also occur and instances of extreme mental overload can severely detract from pilot performance. An

example of this is Qantas Flight 72, in which an automation error resulted in an extreme number of audio and visual warnings sent to the pilot, some of which completely contradicted other warnings. As such, these warnings intended to assist the pilot, created a significant amount of workload and distraction for the flight crew (ATSB, 2008). This clearly demonstrates a lack of consideration for the human observer of the automated system.

Operators of an automated system have a diminished ability both to detect system errors and subsequently to perform tasks manually in the face of automation failures when compared to workers who manually perform the same task of that automated system (Endsley and Kiris, 1995).

Endsley and Kiris are among many who have conducted studies into the effects of automated systems on human supervisors to discover the significant impact in human performance decreases. Casner et al.

(2014) conducted a study specifically to address the concerns on pilot-skill degradation caused by reliance on automation. They found that basic skills such as instrument scanning and stick

controls were reasonably maintained but higher-level cognitive tasks such as navigation and recognising instrument system failures suffered frequent and significant problems. They hypothesise that the retention of such cognitive skills may depend on the pilotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s level of active engagement while supervising the automation. The findings of Casner et al. are consistent with the three pathways to becoming out of the loop suggested by Endsley, particularly with regards to the necessity of assuming an active role in the automated system.

Automation surprise is another highly vital factor for a modern system designer to be aware of. It is strongly linked to a loss of situation awareness, although subtly and distinctly different.

Automation surprise does not necessarily mean the pilot has experienced any of the detractive pathways suggested by Endsley. A pilot may believe they are fully engrossed in the system and fully aware of their current situation, and suddenly the automated system behaves completely unexpectedly; the pilot detects but does not understand the issue (Dehais et al., 2015).

De Boer & Hurts, 2017 conducted a study into automation surprise into Dutch airline pilots and concluded that Automation surprise seems to be a manifestation of the system complexity and interface design choices in aviation today, nearing the bounds of what is humanely possible to comprehend.

Furthermore, they concluded that lack of knowledge or training were outweighed as factors when compared to the advanced sophistication of the automated systems.

This means that the modern designer w i l l

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A pilot may believe they are fully engrossed in the system and fully aware of their current situation and suddenly the automated system behaves completely unexpectedly; the pilot detects but does not understand the issue â&#x20AC;Ś need to duly concern themselves with exactly how much complexity a pilot is able to comprehend effectively.

Do aircraft systems designers appreciate the human dimensions of their work?

The safety philosophy behind the adoption of increasing onboard automation is based on the assumption that human error is the main cause of accidents (Chialastri, 2012). If it is the human that is the weak link in the chain should it not be removed?

Chialastri argues that pilots and machines should not be substituted for one another but instead be complimentary in order to achieve the correct balance to maximise aviation safety potential.

Although automation has dramatically reduced the occurrence of aviation accidents, that rate has stagnated since the 1980s (Boeing, 2013). Following investigations into accidents around this period it was concluded that the human operator had not been considered as a component of the overall structure when designing the automated system and that no effort had been made to combine the human and machine into a cooperative unit (Dehais et al., 2015).

This has not, however; been at the forefront of designerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s minds. In a NASA study of human factors in advanced automated aircraft, (the Boeing B-757) the pilots expressed that they felt the automation left them out of the loop and also found that the automation increased the workload during flight 20

times with an already high workload and decreased during times of low workload (Weiner, 1989).

This indicates that aircraft automated system designers did not appreciate the human dimensions of their work or attempt to comply with the human factors literature being produced at the time.

Since the 1980s there has been a considerable increase in academic literature relating human factors and automation but not so much has translated into actions on the systemdesigner end. This may be due to a multitude of factors but most markedly,

the rapid increase of air travel and the resultant need for reduction of costs related to better performances, lower fuel consumption, cheaper maintenance and flexible pilot training â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the main drivers of modern cockpit design (Chialastri, 2012). These factors could explain why we are still yet to observe another marked drop in accidents per million.

Reason (2000) lists four safety paradoxes based on the study of high reliability organisations, the third of which applies to the attitude of aviation automation over past decades. Many organisations seek to limit the variability

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of human action, primarily to minimize error, but it is this same variability â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in the form of timely adjustments to unexpected events â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that maintains safety in a dynamic and changing world (Reason, 2000). When applied to the automation of aviation we can see that in many cases the aircraft system designers have fallen, to at least some degree, into this paradoxical trap.

Airbusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; automation design philosophy in particular demonstrates this, with its automated policing of any flight manoeuvre outside of the safe flight envelope. Thus, showing a greater willingness to trust the autopilot over

their own pilot in such an emergency situation.

Perfecting humanautomation co-ordination on the flight deck To p e r f e c t h u m a n - a u t o m a t i o n coordination requires a willingness from aircraft system designers to commit significant research into the way in which their pilots interact with the automation of their aircraft.

Modern aircraft have come a long way in addressing the majority of the

safety issues related to aviation and automation is becoming so advanced that the idea of completely designing the pilot out of commercial cockpits is fueling market feasibility research.

Yet even unmanned flight is plagued with human-automation co-ordination issues, a report on aviation accidents among UAVs of the US military found that up to 47 per cent of accidents per airframe where human factors related (Williams, 2004).

The answer lies in designing the system around the human, rather than inserting the human into an ill-fitted system as has been done in the past.

21

F eat ure Story

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F e a tu r e Sto r y

System designers must consider the effect a highly automated system can have on the supervisor and adapt to mitigate those effects from the earliest design phase.

Creating a system that is adaptive and actively engages the pilot in periods of low mental workload but is also able to intuitively take up tasks in times of high mental workload will likely be the way forward. However, adaptive automation itself is not a simple matter and a myriad of elements must be considered in order not to create its own human factors problems (Endsley, 1996). The exact method for implementation of adaptive automation requires significant study and automated system designers should make it a critical point for further research.

Other points of improvement are easier to approach. This could include creating a system to encourage the pilot to behave in an active manner when monitoring, as shown by Casner et al.

(2014), this will likely benefit cognitive skill retention. Furthermore, the drop in situation awareness brought on by changes in feedback to the operator is easily combatable through a robust user interface designed to provide feedback that is informative and easily digestible by the pilot. It should provide the information in such a way as to not drastically increase the mental workload on the pilot and thereby reduce his performance.

What this means is that in a highly automated system, the user is essentially left too little to do in the system process and falls out of the loop. This out-of-the-loop performance issue is suggested to occur through vigilance and complacency problems, shifting from active to passive roles in the system and changes in feedback to the operator (Endsley, 1996).

Conclusion It must be noted that little or no systematic attempt has been made to design and implement automatic systems in relation to the needs, capabilities and limitations of human performance (Edwards, 1977). As illustrated by Edwards, concern for mitigating the inadvertently negative

impact that automation can have on the human component and by extension, human performance, has existed for many decades of high-level automation aviation.

In 1977 Edwards wrote a journal article stating the lack of human factor consideration in system design; in 1991 NASA released Human-centered aircraft automation: A concept and guidelines to direct their organisation, and even in 2018 books are being written on the same subject. As exemplified by this the human-factors approach to automation is one that has been discussed throughout the entire history of its use.

It is clear from the analysis of the sources that system designers are aware of the need to appreciate the human dimensions of their work, although translating this knowledge into tangible results has thus far been of modest success.

Inarguably, automation has had a significant impact on the reduction of aviation safety incidents and will likely continue this trend far into the future.

However, we can see that the application of human factors to the improvement of human-automation coordination may succeed in finally closing the gap in automation safety.

Only if we consider the human factor and take a human-centered approach to system design, can we achieve the greatest success in its application and attain zero accidents per million takeoffs. In conclusion, it is considering, analysing and perfecting the human dimensions of the flight deck that is key to successful automation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR MIDN Ryan Lake is an undergraduate studying a Bachelor of Science majoring in Aviation and Chemistry at the University of New South Wales Canberra. He is keenly interested in modern aviation safety and the human factors discipline. Most notably in optimising the human performance effects of advancing aviation technologies.

References Australian Transport Safety Bureau. (1996). Human Factors in Fatal Aircraft Accidents. Canberra: ATSB. Retrieved from https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/28363/ sir199604_001.pdf

of Learmonth, WA, 7 October 2008 (pp. 191-214).

Canberra: Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Boeing. (2013) Statistical summary of commercial jet airplane accidents. worldwide operations 1959 -2013. https://www.skybrary.aero/bookshelf/books/2990.pdf Casner, S.M., Geven, R.W., Recker, M. P. & Schooler J.W. (2014). The retention of manual flying skills in the automated cockpit. Human Factors, 56 (8), 1506-1516. doi:10.1177/0018720814535628 Chialastri, A. (2012). Automation in aviation (pp. 80101). Rome: INTECH Open Access Publisher.

De Boer, R., & Hurts, K. (2017). Automation Surprise.

Aviation Psychology and Applied Human Factors, 7(1), 28-41. doi:10.1027/2192-0923/a000113 Dehais, F., Peysakhovich, V., Scannella, S., Fongue, J., & Gateau, T. (2015). “Automation Surprise” in Aviation: Real- Time Solutions. Proceedings Of The 33Rd Annual ACM Conference On Human Factors In Computing ystems - CHI‘15. doi: 10.1145/2702123.2702521 Edwards, E. (1977). Automation in civil transport aircraft. Applied Ergonomics, 8(4), 194-198. doi: 10.1016/0003- 6870(77)90163-6 Endsley, M. (1996). Automation and situation awareness in R. Parasuraman and M. Mouloua (Eds) Automation and human performance: Theory and applications (pp163-181). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Endsley, M. R., & Kiris, E. O. (1995). The out-oftheloop performance problem and level of control in automation. Human Factors, 37(2), (pp. 381-394). doi:10.1518/001872095779064555 Harris, Don. (2011). Human Performance on the Flight Deck (1st ed., pp. 227-229). Farnham: Ashgate.

ICAO. (1998). Human Factors Training Manual (1st ed.). Montreal: ICAO. James, M., Birch, C., McClumpha, A. and beylavin, A. (1993). The Perception of workload on the Automated Flights Deck Farnborough: Defence Research Agency.

Kaber, D., & Endsley, M. (2004). The effects of level of automation and adaptive automation on human performance, situation awareness and workload in a dynamic control task. Theoretical Issues In Ergonomics Science, 5(2), 113-153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1463922021000054335 Oster, Clinton V., Strong, John S. and Zorn, Kurt. (2010).

Why Airplanes Crash: Causes of Accidents Worldwide.

No 207282, 51st Annual Transportation Research Forum. Arlington, Virginia. https://EconPapers.repec. org/ RePEc:ags:ndtr10:207282.

Reason, J. (2000). Safety paradoxes and safety culture. Injury Control And Safety Promotion, 7(1), 3-14. doi: 10.1076/1566-0974(200003)7:1;1-v;ft003 Weiner, E. (1989). Human factors of advanced technology (glass cockpit) transport aircraft (pp. 169182). Miami: NASA, United States. Retrieved from https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa. gov/19890016609.pdf Williams, K. (2004). A Summary of Unmanned Aircraft Accident/Incident Data: Human Factors Implications.

Oklahoma City: Civil Aerospace Medical Institute.

Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/ a460102.pdf Xie, B., & Salvendy, G. (2000). Review and reappraisal of modelling and predicting mental workload in singleand multi-task environments. Work & Stress, 14(1), 74-99. doi: 10.1080/026783700417249 Courtesy DFSB and Aviation Safety Spotlight

Australian Transport Safety Bureau. (2008). In-flight upset — Airbus A330-303, VH-QPA, 154 km west

23

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F eat ure Story

The In my 37 years of flying, I have flown 37 different aircraft types including the CT-114 Tutor, CF-5, F/A-18, F-15, F-16, Harrier, CF104, A-7, Mirage 2000, Tornado and Hawk. Surprisingly, the A-37B Dragonfly still puts a huge smile on my face each time I strap her on for a display. I have been displaying the A-37B for about 18 years and its’ performance never ceases to amaze myself, as well as the spectators.

It gave me great pleasure t o d i s p l a y t h e Te m o r a Av i a t i o n Museum’s A-37B Dragonfly during the Avalon International Airshow, 1-3 March 2019. Over the three days, this gave approximately 120,000 spectators the chance to see the A-37B in her new, authentic paint scheme, representing the South Vietnamese 516th Squadron.

26

A-37

I’ve had the privilege of flying the F/A-18 in two Commonwealth Air Forces, and the performance and power are difficult to compare with the a-37B ‘sports car’. The A-37B will beat a Hornet to about 8,000 from a standing start, but then the roles change rapidly.

This feisty twin engine Cessna was built as a Close Air Support aircraft during the Vietnam War. About 250 A-37B were delivered to the South Vietnamese Air Force, with 95 being captured by the North Vietcong at the close of the war. Ours was one of these.

Ours dates to 1967, and research shows that our serial number was assigned to the 516th South Vietnamese Squadron. The A-37bs would have seen service from about 1967 to 1975, at the end

B

of the Vietnam War. The ground up restoration was conducted by t h e Te m o r a Av i a t i o n M u s e u m ’s engineering team under the guidance of Chief Engineer Andrew Bishop, and its’ recent restoration has it looking and performing better than when it left the factory.

The new engines produce a combined 6,000# (pounds) thrust.

To put this in context, the aircraft weighs 5,700# and in our display configuration we add 1,800# of fuel.

This gives me about a 0.8:1.0 thrust to weight ratio on take-off. So, when I select 100% power, I’m accelerating at 20kts per second, ‘rocketing’ the A-37 from 0 to 90kts rotation speed in about 4.5 seconds. Once safely airborne, I retract the landing gear, keeping below the 150kt retraction speed by pulling the nose up to about

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g a r D

20 degrees. As soon as the gear are up, a slight attitude decrease accelerates the aircraft to 300kts effortlessly. In its’ day the top speed was about 415kts, but I limit it to less than 360kts to preserve the airframe and engines. In cruise, the aircraft burns 2000# per hour so with just internal fuel I have about 1.5 hours endurance, and with one sets of underwing tanks, I get an extra 30 minutes of flying time. That said, I use 600# as my minimum fuel, by which point I need to be landing.

The A-37B is a complete package for the intended role of Close Air Support. It has three hard points under each wing to carry a variety of ordinance such as napalm, rockets and bombs, also extra fuel tanks for duration. The A-37B was capable of being fitted with an AAR (Air-to-Air

y l f n o

By Captain Darren “Buster” Crabb

Refueling) probe. Assuming that fuel ran out before weapons, the crew could quickly take on a full load of fuel just behind the action and be back on station promptly. It is also fitted with a six-barrel 7.62 minigun capable of firing up to 6,000 rounds per minute, or 100 rounds per second. This could be used to keep the enemy’s head down while delivering ordinance, more likely as a morale booster for the crew due to the limited ballistics capability of the 7.62 at stand-off ranges. The side by side seating worked well for the high intensity close air support role. The crew could see what each other were doing, and while the pilot was flying and conducting lookout, the co-pilot could take the 9-line attack brief from the FAC (Forward Air Controller), work multi-frequency

radios, assist with weapon selection and importantly, provide an extra set of eyeballs looking out for AAA ground fire and SAMs (Surface-toAir Missiles).

Weapons delivery was rudimentary for the array carried, unlike the CCIP (continuously computed impact point) I used in the F/A-18, which relied on computers to continually update the “pipper” or “cross-hair” based on your variables. The Dragonfly is fitted with a reflective “gunsight” in front of the pilot. As soon as the attack brief was received, weapon switches selected, the pilot then chose the best attack type and set a fixed “Mil’ setting into the sight. Attack parameters are based on fixed Mil setting, or “depression angle” for the individual weapon. It is then up to the pilot to fly 27

F eat ure Story

the trigonometry to achieve an exact dive angle, airspeed and release height for ballistics. Any variation, as minute as a degree or 5kts, plus any wind, required the pilot to manually compensate for his “pickle” (weapon release).

Typical attacks could include Pop attacks or Wagon Wheels. Pop attacks allow the pilot to approach, unseen, low level, and at a predetermined range, pull up about 15 degrees, delay for only 1-3” while acquiring the target or FAC smoke, roll the aircraft onto attack heading and hold steady until release height.

Wagon wheel attacks are conducive when you have battlefield superiority.

The pilot flies a continual circuit around the target area at a specific attack altitude. Once his eyes are talked onto the target or the FAC hits it with smoke, the pilot tips in from altitude and slant range while attaining attack parameters.

The range of energy addition in the A-37B is impressive. The straight wing design allows the Dragonfly

28

to glide nicely at 130kts, achieving about 3NM per 1,000 feet of altitude in an engines out scenario. This characteristic enables slow speed loitering at reduced power settings behind the lines, but with a combined 5,700# (military rated capability) thrust, full power rushes the A-37B to and attack speed of about 400kts in seconds. This, combined with a very agile airframe, make the A-37 a very potent weapon platform.

In terms of general handling, the Dragonfly is docile, yet very responsive to stick movements.

For displays, I set 92% thrust and use 250kts as my target speed, enabling me to do continual aerobatic manoeuvres until I run out of fuel, keeping the airframe to less than 3G. A 250kt loop will require 2,200’ of vertical air, over the top still with 130kts. This allows me to bleed off stick pressure at 3G to regain 250kts and join the next manoeuvre. From a safety aspect I know that is can actually pull the aircraft out of this loop in a mere 1,300 feet (my IAS x

10). Rolling is rapid and concise for 4 point rolls, with minimal altitude loss.

Another fabulous airborne characteristic of the A-37B is that is basically does not have a Vmca problem. This is the minimum singleengine controllable airspeed in flight.

Most aircraft on one engine, when the other is brought up to full power have a very adverse yawing or rolling inverted tendency. As the engines are closely spaced in the airframe, the yawing is easily countered with a little rudder, and any pitch attitude less than 15 degrees nose up results in immediate acceleration.

Both the United States and South Vietnamese Air Forces utilized the A-37B to great effect during the war. The relative ease of operation of the aircraft, combined with large numbers available, allowed a lot of ordinance to be delivered rapidly to the battlefield. In terms of its’ significance to Australian troops in Vietnam, it would have been primarily in support of our Australian Special Forces. Their mode of

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operation had them in contact with enemy troops behind the lines on many occasions, necessitating calling in A-37B weapons support to ensure they weren’t overrun, usually in a ‘danger close’ environment due to the close proximity of the enemy to our troops.

The side by side seating arrangement doesn’t pose any major problems other than a slight sight picture adjustment depending on direction of roll, and of course during close formation flying while looking cross cockpit through the canopy rails. A frequent question is why the underwing tanks? The tank drag is minimal due to the engine thrust for

aerobatics, but we purposely retain empty fuel tanks under the wings in the unlikely event that I can’t lower the landing gear via normal or alternate methods. This would allow me to belly land on the tanks and save the airframe.

Safety is paramount at the Temora Aviation Museum and this philosophy has been applied to the A-37B. Our aircraft has been retro-fitted with new ‘live’ Martin Baker Mk8 ejection seats.

They are rated 0-70. This means at ‘0’ feet or at ground level, and a forward speed of 70kts, if you eject, you will achieve a safe aircraft separation and survivable rate of descent in your parachute. From the time of pulling the handle, the sequence of events will have you under a chute in 1.5 seconds! As my aerobatic manoeuvres are accomplished above 500’AGL, through all phases of flight I have over a 200’ buffer, even if I ejected inverted, which is a very impressive seat capability.

The A-37B has a unique landing configuration and that is, in addition

to normal landing gear and flaps, I land with speed brakes deployed.

The speed brake deployment allows for ‘thrust attenuators’ to action open behind the engine exhaust pipe giving a higher power setting at lower speeds. This means a more rapid engine response and less engine spool up times, should the need arise to go around during the critical landing phase.

T h e A - 3 7 B l a n d s s e d a t e l y, between 105-110kts depending on fuel weight. The hardest thing to overcome is the very low seating sight picture on touch down, with my rear being only about two feet off the ground.

I feel very privileged to display this potent performance aircraft to the public. Based on my experiences as a Fighter Pilot, I can well imagine exactly what the pilots would be feeling as they went about their business over the jungles of Vietnam in the best Cessna ever built.

Photo credits Gavin Conroy, except picture on opposite page; Darren’s private collection.

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Discover Rosewood Green and find your home.

Rosewood Green is located in Rosewood, the beating heart of the Bremer Valley. Located only 8 minutes from RAAF Amberley, 20 minutes from Ipswich and 45 minutes from Brisbane CBD, getting in and out of the neighbourhood is a breeze. Residents here can rely on both cities as a place of amenity and employment, as well as the nearby RAAF base.

House and land packages are selling now with Stage 1A land titled and ready to sell. There is a range of block sizes to choose from, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to find one to suit your special home. There are affordable builder packages for ADF buyers, as well as help to access HPAS, DHOAS and the First Home Owners Grant. These entitlements can greatly reduce the required deposit and assist ADF members in purchasing their first home. Our Rosewood Green sales agent served 12 years within the Australian Army and so can provide valuable assistance to help you get into your home sooner.

Rosewood Green provides the tranquillity and ease of country life, with all the opportunity the region has to offer. Rosewood Green is 2 minutes

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from the Rosewood township and only 10 minutes from the Warrego and Cunningham Highways, providing multiple transport connections to Ipswich, Brisbane and Toowoomba.

Rosewood Green has easy access to both Rosewood and Thagoona train stations, providing direct access to Ipswich and Brisbane.

Rosewood offers a choice of employment and education opportunities nearby, with a lively community and a vast array of outdoor leisure activities.

Rosewood Green has been designed to take advantage of Rosewoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest assets. The walk to your next round of golf is minutes away, and your next shopping trip is just a minute away in the village or a quick drive to Ipswich.

Whilst Rosewood might currently be small in size compared to nearby Ipswich, it is well serviced by a variety of local amenities. The suburb already boasts everything local residents require, with multiple schools and childcare for children of all ages, multiple locations for entertainment and leisure, its own train line with a direct service to Ipswich and Brisbane, various medical institutions including

doctors and dentist, places of worship, restaurants and local shopping.

Rosewood features a range of facilities and places to unwind on the weekends including the Rosewood Golf Course, bowls club, rugby league club, swimming pool, sports fields and numerous parks. Rosewood Green enjoys easy access to the Rosewood Golf Course which has discounted membership for defence force members.

These local amenities are only expected to expand over the coming years, as the population continues to rise and development takes place. Over the next two decades, Rosewood will emerge as its own major hub due to being earmarked for significant growth, making Rosewood a prime location to live, work and invest in property.

Based on population predictions by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, an average of 658 dwellings will need to be constructed each year to keep up with estimated demand.

Call the Rosewood Green sales team on 07 3059 7400 to see how easy it is to find your home base and start enjoying the Rosewood way of life. rosewoodgreen.com.au

F eat ure Story

AIR POWER AND EFFECTS-BASED OPERATIONS:

THE NEED FOR DEEPER ANALYSIS Effects-Based Operations (EBO) is a term and a concept that is difficult to define precisely, with a large number of definitions available in the literature on the subject.

Perhaps the one that comes closest to being definitive is the one provided by the US Joint Forces Command that states, ‘[EBO is] a process for obtaining a desired strategic outcome or effect on the enemy through the synergistic and cumulative application of the full range of military and non-military capabilities at all levels of conflict.’

Over the past three decades or so, the development of air power concepts of operations has been almost fully based on the need to create the necessary effects that would support the joint EBO. Success in this endeavour has been somewhat diffused, less than optimum and not always assured.

This situation indicates that a more in-depth analysis of the factors that influence the application of air power must be undertaken to ensure the correct trajectory for the development of concepts of operations.

The strategic development of air power has long suffered from the disadvantage of a lack of inclination and motivation to carry out detailed analysis of its own progression and evolutionary needs. Sufficient intellectual capital has not been invested in understanding and then creating the path for air power to evolve as an effective envelope force capable of creating the necessary effects to achieve the desired political end-state. For the first century of its existence as a military force element, air power has laboured within this restricted environment, where intellectual capacity for future development has always been constrained. The main reason for this malaise perhaps lies in the nature of air power that attracts people with a proclivity for action more than for intellectual investigation that leads to 32

sustained development of theories and concepts.

The contemporary trend to box air power, its concepts and application into a contextual war against irregular forces, when viewed against the broad spectrum of conflict scenario, is incorrect. In order to realise its full potential and from a developmental point of view, air power must be conceptualised in the context of conventional wars. This is so because success in conventional wars requires the employment of the full spectrum of air power capabilities, before during and after the conflict. In turn, only the availability of full-spectrum capabilities would permit the contextual tailoring of air power application necessary to cater for emerging circumstances.

Air power thinking and concept development must remain broad-based in order to retain the flexibility necessary to overcome operational and tactical challenges and peculiar battlefield issues. Overcoming operational and tactical challenges is critical to the success of air power application but they only form a small although crucial input into the capability development process. The major influence will have to be a broad assessment of national security needs to ensure an extended horizon for capability development.

Air Power developmental thinking in the early days was dominated by the ‘strategic school’ of thought that tried to position air power as the element that would win wars rapidly and at lesser cost in treasure and lives. This concept was a direct result of the traumatic carnage experienced in the trenches of World War I. In a somewhat lackadaisical manner, the use of the atom bomb at the end of World War II was viewed as validating the concept of strategic bombing to ‘win wars’. Thereafter, a series of concepts— such as the air-land battle that were developed—reinforced the

conventional view of air power as being predominantly a support element for surface operations. This, somewhat unforeseen development, clearly demonstrated the less than optimum understanding and lack of analysis of air power capabilities and their technologyenabled exponential growth. The same lack of incisive analysis was visible when air power absorbed Colonel John Warden’s appreciation of the enemy as a system of systems and adopted EBO as the prevalent concept for the application of air power.

Why has it become increasingly important to analyse new concepts before employing them? Air power today is an instrument of national power that can be applied with precision, proportionality and discrimination to create the desired effect across a broad spectrum of activities—from delivering humanitarian aid to fighting a war of national survival. This spread and depth of air power capabilities make it imperative to analyse the applicability of concepts before they are employed. The reason could be that air forces as institutions did not possess the intellectual depth required to cultivate a culture based on inquisitive analysis at the conceptual level.

Problem solving efforts were focused on tactical challenges—as actionoriented people almost always do.

Pragmatic questioning of the veracity of a concept that had been proven once in employment was a bridge too far. EBO remains in this basket.

The celebrated success of air power in Operation Desert Storm returned the strategic school to centre stage, making air power enthusiasts reiterate the claim of air power being an independent war-winning force. This claim was further reinforced by the demonstration of air power’s success in the limited engagements in Europe in the 1990s, mostly against non-airpowerssessing

F e a tu r e Sto r y

adversaries. No doubt, these air campaigns were brilliant in their execution and achieved conclusive results. However, on the other hand they negated a climate that was conducive to developing an analytical culture within the air power community. They did not anticipate the on-coming irregular wars in which air power would get embroiled, starting with Afghanistan in 2001 and continuing to the present day.

The core concept of EBO is that devastating fire power, delivered with precision on pre-selected targets of strategic importance will create the desired effect. The associated calculations, like its effect on the general population and on post-conflict stabilisation, are glossed over in the selection of priority targets, which were mainly aimed at changing the behaviour pattern of an adversary.

The fundamental requirement to influence the belief system, the basis of winning an irregular conflict, does not feature in the operational level EBO concept.

EBO, whenever it has been applied, has so far achieved effects that only alter the behaviour pattern, especially of the adversary leadership, which is at best transitory.

Strategic paralysis, achieved through the application of overwhelming force, has no place in irregular wars.

A basic blemish in the development of air power theories has been the flawed perception that a proven concept has universal validity. This is the first step towards becoming dogmatic and reality disproves this premise. The prevalent analytical stasis creates a loss of flexibility in air power employment and is the first step towards assured failure. The current impasse, where air power is falling short of expectations in the on-going irregular wars is a case in point. Air power theorists need to act now in order to rejuvenate the analytical approach to air power concept development and application if the current situation is to be avoided in the future. Author Pathfinder http://airpower.airforce.gov.au

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F eat ure Story

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F e a tu r e Sto r y

Australian air force anticipates Triton's prospects

By Gordon Arthur, Tim Martin in Singapore

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is looking forward to a wide range of new capabilities and synergies when it begins operating its first MQ-4C Triton in around 2023, with more capability to be expected from the Northrop Grumman airframe in 2024-25.

Air Cdre Craig Heap, Cdr of the RAAF’s surveillance and response group, presented details at the ADECS 2019 conference in Singapore about how the P-8A Poseidon and the unarmed Triton will be able to work together to benefit Australia and the wider region.

Australia has a vast area of responsibility for SAR, one that comprises 10% of the Earth’s surface.

Platforms such as the MQ-4C will help monitor this large swathe of maritime territory.

One future aim is that the crew of a P-8A would be able to operate the sensors of a Triton through mannedunmanned teaming, although the latter is more a US Army doctrine than an Australian piece of terminology.

Another scenario might be the use of a Triton to share data with an Indonesian aircraft in order to drop a life raft during a rescue mission.

With partners such as New Zealand and the USN also operating the P-8A Poseidon, there will be a goal of being able to freely share data between these aircraft and Triton too.

Heap listed a number of opportunities that the Triton will bring to Australia: reach, persistence, reaction time especially for humanitarian assistance/ disaster relief (HADR), fidelity to inform responses, situational awareness, efficient and effective MUM-T response and the ability for the P-8A or other asset to monitor and control sensors.

The main operating base for the Triton fleet will be RAAF Base Edinburgh near Adelaide, although Tindal in the north of Australia will be the key forward operating base. This will allow the aircraft to monitor Australia’s northern

maritime approaches and conduct SAR missions. It can also scout the way ahead for a naval task group, or provide a surveillance umbrella above such a group.

Over the next couple of years, the RAAF will embed crews in the US for training, which will help create a core of experienced instructors.

The Triton’s 8,000+nm range and 24h endurance will be a ‘key game changer’, Heap said. The aircraft will be able to reach the South Pole or, if flying from the Cocos Island in the Indian Ocean, as far as the Somali coast.

However, a more likely scenario would be a 2,000nm radius of action, composed of 8h to get on station, 8h on target and 8h to return home. The use of three MQ-4C UAVs would thus give ‘unblinking’ 24h persistence.

The MQ-4C is also a truly allweather UAV, with the ability to navigate around bad weather via a weather radar, plus it has anti-icing and de-icing capacities. In the future, its AN/ZLQ-1 electronic support measures suite will be upgraded to expand into a higher bandwidth. Another future upgrade will be the AN/DAS-4 multispectral EO/IR sensor.

It also possesses an automatic identification system for identifying and tracking vessels at sea. A sense and avoid radar is due around 2025, which is vital for the UAV ascending and descending through air traffic routes.

Australian concepts of operations for the Triton will mimic those of the USN. Stressing its suitability for SAR and HADR, Heap highlighted that its capabilities would be available to assist regional neighbours for emergencies such as tsunamis, sinking ships or aircraft disappearances.

However, Heap was at pains to point out, ‘There is no intent here for us to operate Triton in any way, shape or form outside of normal international law and diplomatic clearance.’ He assured that the aircraft would not violate the airspace of other nations.

Yet he also raised the interesting spectre of what happens if a Triton is dispatched on such an HADR mission, or if it has to make an emergency landing at a foreign airfield while in transit. How do neighbours treat it when it arrives suddenly without any attending aircrew? These are all new questions to think about.

He noted that most unmanned assets in Australia are currently at the LO2 level of interoperability, which can be defined as pulling ISR imagery directly from a source. The highest level, LO5, would involve full remote operations of UAVs, including launch and landing.

The RAAF has so far received seven P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, with six crews trained, heading soon towards eight crews and with the eventual goal of 12 crews. ‘That process is occurring at this time.’

Heap described the P-8A as ‘operating superbly within the Australian context’, although he also likened it to a ‘flying computer’. That means if the computer system does not work properly when you log in, the plane cannot fly that day. However, this digitised platform will benefit from spiral upgrades being introduced by the USN. The commander said the P-8’s serviceability was vastly superior to that of the AP-3C Orion, which is suffering badly from age-related deterioration.

An unclassified slide shown at ADECS 2019 listed a 0.80 serviceability rate for the P-8A. The arrival of the Triton for ISR missions will allow the P-8 to concentrate more on other core capabilities such as anti-submarine warfare.

File photos of MQ-4C Triton. Courtesy of Northrop Grumman. https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/ uv-online/adecs-2019-australian-air-forceanticipate-tritons/

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F e a tu r e Sto r y

Tank Boost New external fuels tanks provide our Hercs with more longrange muscle Eamon Hamilton writes

External fuel tanks on a No. 37 Squadron C-130J Hercules played a key role in helping deliver presents and aid to remote island communities in the West Pacific. For Operation Christmas Drop 2018 at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the RAAF sent A97-440, a C-130J Hercules recently equipped with two external fuel tanks.

These boost the aircraft’s fuel capacity from 19 tonnes to 27 tonnes.

During the operation, the crew flew missions of up to eight hours and delivered items to seven islands. The extra fuel provided the crew with greater options for range and loiter time during their missions, allowing them to factor in contingencies such as bad weather or other emergencies.

According to FLTLT Nicholas Bourke, RAAF Detachment Commander for Operation Christmas Drop, the extra range made the RAAF Hercules the platform of choice when delivering to the most remote islands. “(The tanks) add about four hours of flight time to what we could normally achieve,” FLTLT Bourke said.

“That’s really important going out to islands that are 2000km away out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no other airfields around nearby if something was to go wrong.”

The operation involved 154 bundle loads delivered by Hercules transports from the United States Pacific Air Forces, Japan Air Self-Defense Force (or Koku Jieitai) and RAAF. They flew to 56 island communities located in Republic of Palau, Northern Marianas Islands, and Federated States of Micronesia, spread over more than six million square kilometres of the Pacific.

The RAAF crew was assigned the call sign ‘Santa 99’, and delivered 16 bundle loads to seven islands.

(L-R) Captain Raymond Gutierrez, a C-130J Hercules Pilot with the United States Pacific Air Forces 36th Airlift Squadron, and Royal Australian Air Force Flight Lieutenant No. 37 Squadron Nicholas Bourke

Among the far-flung islands delivered to by the RAAF was Kapingamarangi, an atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia that’s 2000km from Guam.

Kapingamarangi holds the distinction of being the first island delivered to

by Operation Christmas Drop in 1952.

The crew of a USAF WB-29 weather reconnaissance aircraft overflew the is land and, seeing the community, made an impromptu delivery.

In 2018, the RAAF was fortunate to be tasked on two missions to Kapingamarangi. “It’s a great honour for us to go out to that original island to participate now, some 67 years later,” FLTLT Bourke said.

“We’ll fly three and a half hours just to reach the island, and spending half an hour out there surveying the drop zone and completing the drop.”

As well as proving the utility of the external fuel tanks on the C-130J during these missions, Operation Christmas Drop 18 provided an opportunity for the crew to practise airborne survey and delivery to unfamiliar drop zones.

“Delivering supplies to people who are a long way away is great training for us,” FLTLT Bourke said. “The airdrops, while beautiful, were also quite

challenging at times. “The drop zones required a degree of crew coordination to find the best drop location and achieve success.”

Many of the islands require crews to drop precisely onto a spot in the water or on a lagoon, where recovery boats can negotiate coral reefs, shallow areas, and breakwaters.

Large flocks of seabirds on the islands, often startled by the appearance of a Hercules, also present a hazard for aircrew that must be safely overcome.

The RAAF crew were also challenged at Agrihan Island in the Northern Marianas.

Formed out of a large volcano that towers above the Pacific, Agrihan has sheer waterfront cliffs and almost no level ground, leaving few options for crew to ‘run in’ to the drop zone.

With no trained drop zone party on the ground, aircrew must survey the conditions from the air. “We conduct a number of passes over the top to make sure it’s clear and suitable to drop, and then after that we’re able to complete the airdrop,” FLTLT Bourke said. “Our participation here allows us to train our airdrop crews to conduct airdrop in austere environments far away 37

C yber Te ch no log y

New guidelines for responding to cyber attacks don’t go far enough New guidelines for responding to cyber attacks don’t go far enough Recent debates about cyber security in Australia have largely centred around the passing of the government’s controversial Assistance and Access bill. But while government access to encrypted messages is an important subject, protecting Australia from threat could depend more on the task of developing a solid and robust cyber security response plan.

Australia released its first Cyber Incident Management Arrangements (CIMA) for state, territory and federal governments on December 12. It’s a commendable move towards a comprehensive national civil defence strategy for cyber space.

Coming at least a decade after the need was first foreshadowed by the government, this is just the initial step on a path that demands much more development. Beyond CIMA, the government needs to better explain to the public the unique threats posed by large scale cyber incidents and, on that basis, engage the private sector and a wider community of experts on addressing those unique threats.

Australia is poorly prepared The aim of the new cyber incident arrangements is to reduce the scope, impact and severity of a “national cyber incident”.

A national cyber incident is defined as being of potential national importance, but less severe than a “crisis” that would trigger the government’s Australian Government Crisis Management Framework (AGCMF).

Australia is currently ill-prepared to respond to a major cyber incident, such as the Wannacry or NotPetya attacks in 2017.

Wannacry severely disrupted the 38

UK’s National Health Service, at a cost of A$160 million. NotPetya shut down the world’s largest shipping container company, Maersk, for several weeks, costing it A$500 million.

When costs for random cyber attacks are so high, it’s vital that all Australian governments have coordinated response plans to high-threat incidents.

The CIMA sets out inter-jurisdictional coordination arrangements, roles and responsibilities, and principles for cooperation.

A higher-level cyber crisis that would trigger the AGCMF (a process that itself looks somewhat under-prepared) is one that: … results in sustained disruption to essential services, severe economic damage, a threat to national security or loss of life.

training programs in Australia for this specialist task. Our universities, for the most part, do not teach – or even research – complex cyber incidents on a scale that could begin to service the national need.

The federal government must move quickly to strengthen and formalise arrangements for collaboration with key non-governmental partners – particularly the business sector, but also researchers and large non-profit entities.

Critical infrastructure providers, such as electricity companies, should be among the first businesses targeted for collaboration due to the scale of potential fallout if they came under attack.

To help achieve this, CIMA outlines plans to institutionalise, for the first time, regular cyber incident exercises that address nationwide needs.

More cyber experts and cyber incident exercises Better long-term At just seven pages in length, in glossy planning is needed brochure format, the CIMA does not outline specific operational incident management protocols.

This will be up to state and territory governments to negotiate with the Commonwealth. That means the protocols developed may be subject to competing budget priorities, political appetite, divergent levels of cyber maturity, and, most importantly, staffing requirements.

Australia has a serious crisis in the availability of skilled cyber personnel in general. This is particularly the case in specialist areas required for the management of complex cyber incidents.

Government agencies struggle to compete with major corporations, such as the major banks, for the top-level recruits.

The skills crisis is exacerbated by the lack of high quality education and

While these moves are a good start, there are three longer term tasks that need attention.

First, the government needs to construct a consistent, credible and durable public narrative around the purpose of its cyber incident policies, and associated exercise programs.

Former Cyber Security Minister Dan Tehan has spoken of a single cyber storm, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke of a perfect cyber storm (several storms together), and Cyber Coordinator Alastair McGibbon spoke of a cyber catastrophe as the only existential threat Australia faced.

But there is little articulation in the public domain of what these ideas actually mean.

The new cyber incident management arrangements are meant to operate below the level of national cyber crisis.

C y b e r Te ch n o l o g y

But the country is in dire need of a civil defence strategy for cyber space that addresses both levels of attack. There is no significant mention of cyber threats in the website of the Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub. This is a completely new form of civil defence, and it may need a new form of organisation to carry it forward. A new, dedicated arm of a existing agency, such as the State Emergency Services (SES), is another potential solution.

One of us (Greg Austin) proposed in 2016 the creation of a new “cyber civil corps”. This would be a disciplined service relying on part-time commitments from the people best

trained to respond to national cyber emergencies. A cyber civil corps could also help to define training needs and contribute to national training packages.

The second task falls to private business, who face potentially crippling costs in random cyber attacks.

They will need to build their own body of expertise in cyber simulations and exercise. Contracting out such responsibilities to consulting companies, or one-off reports, would produce scattershot results. Any “lessons learnt” within firms about contingency management could fail to be consolidated and shared with the wider business community.

The third task of all stakeholders is to mobilise an expanding knowledge community led by researchers from academia, government and the private sector.

What exists at the moment is minimalist, and appears hostage to the preferences of a handful of senior officials in Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and the Department of Home Affairs who may not be in post within several years.

Cyber civil defence is the responsibility of the entire community.

Australia needs a national standing committee for cyber security emergency management and resilience that is an equal partnership between government, business, and academic specialists.

Courtesy Conversation Authors Adam Henry Adjunct Lecturer, UNSW Greg Austin Professor UNSW Canberra Cyber, UNSW

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D efence

Australia’s defence and security: are we doing enough?

One of the proudest boasts of the Coalition government is that it takes national security seriously, and it does.

Over the next 10 years, Australia will spend $200 billion on defence in the nation’s largest ever peacetime rearmament program. As the federal election looms, it is fair to ask why we are doing it and what are we getting for it.

In simple terms, we are rearming because the strategic environment has changed dramatically, especially in the maritime domain. Almost half of that $200 billion is earmarked for the navy, $90 billion of which will go to building 56 warships in Australia. Unfortunately, the build won’t be complete until the mid-2050s.

Geography means that Australia’s

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livelihood is tied to the sea, with our security and prosperity dependent on access to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Our exports must travel by ship to reach their destinations, and we rely on the sea lanes to import liquid fuel and other vital goods.

Australians tend to pay little attention to this simple fact because we have seldom had reason to. We have always allied with ‘great and powerful friends’ that could be counted on to keep our sea lanes open. Initially, the Royal Navy was Australia’s guarantor.

Then the US Navy took its place—and in the 75 years since World War II, it hasn’t faced a peer competitor. But the strategic environment has changed.

The US Navy, by its own admission, is not the globally dominant force we

have long assumed it to be.

Both warship numbers and capabilities are important, especially if you accept global responsibilities. In 1989, the US Navy had 594 combat ships. Now it has 275. The US plans to rebuild to 355 ships, but admits that this can’t be achieved within 30 years and that the overall cost will be a third higher than that of today’s navy. And recent US defence budget increases are unlikely to last.

The US considers that the West is being challenged by four nations: China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Both Australia and the US describe our regional geostrategic environment as the Indo-Pacific. Three of those four challengers are in our region. If things go bad, this has major implications

D e fe n ce

for our region, our prosperity and our security.

The biggest challenge for our region and the world is the emergence of China as a great power.

China’s military is being restructured into one with a greater balance between its land, sea, air and rocket components, and we all know how good China’s cyber forces are.

A major part of the restructure is the priority given to the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that ‘the task of building a powerful navy has never been as urgent as it is today’ and urged the PLAN to ‘prepare for war’. Chinese military leaders talk often and openly about the PLAN’s ambition ‘to gain an ability like the US Navy so that it can conduct different operations globally’, and about how to defeat the US in the Pacific by sinking its aircraft carriers. China is investing massive resources into the PLAN, which is growing rapidly in its size and sophistication.

Analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows that the PLAN already has more deployable vessels than the US Navy. In the past five years, China launched more new vessels than the entire Royal Navy has. It was able to do that through large-scale investment in dual-use shipbuilding facilities as the world’s largest commercial shipbuilder.

China is also developing larger, more advanced vessels capable of longer-range operations.

China’s second—and its first domestically built—aircraft carrier will enter service soon. It’s been suggested that the PLAN could eventually field up to six increasingly sophisticated carriers.

China is also commissioning new amphibious assault ships capable of transporting marines and helicopters.

A new line of cruisers, similar to the US Navy’s Ticonderoga-class Aegisequipped cruisers, is being launched, as are new models of destroyers, frigates, corvettes and submarines.

These are all ‘comparable in many respects to most modern Western warships’. We are witnessing the birth of a Chinese ‘blue water’ navy that will be able to conduct operations far from China’s coastline.

This is not about the South China Sea or other territorial waters claimed by the PRC. It is driven by a desire to project power on a global scale.

While he acknowledges that war is not inevitable, Graham Allison cautions that ‘war between the US and China in the decades ahead is not just possible but much more likely than currently recognized’, and that ‘by underestimating the danger … we add to the risk’. Over the last 500 years, there have been 16 occasions when a rising power has overtaken the dominant power. In 12 of them, war

was the result.

It is dangerous to think that the US still dominates the world as it once did, given its global responsibilities, its diminished defence capability, its unpredictable national decisionmaking and the increasing strength of those that challenge it. This has monumental implications for Australian security when the US is still seen as the ‘centre pole’ of our defence.

The Coalition government’s spending on defence is wise, but a root-and-branch analysis resulting in an Australian national security strategy is the only way that Australia can assess whether our spend is enough, whether what we are buying is appropriate, and if we can afford to wait decades to rearm our military to deter conflict. The last thing we need is a new defence white paper. That would merely delay important decisions that are required now.

Given that anything in Australian defence takes decades to mature, an upcoming election is the perfect time to talk about the issue of defence and security.

Jim Molan is a Liberal senator for New South Wales. He was a major general in the Australian Army and served as chief of operations for the Multinational Force in Iraq from 2004 to 2005.

Courtesy of ASPI The Strategist. www.aspistrategist.org.au Defence images

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D efence

Women inspired to pursue Defence careers The Australian Government is committed to encouraging young Australian women to pursue their interests in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) both at school and in the workforce.

To celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 Feb), Minister for Defence Personnel Darren Chester has launched three videos demonstrating the possibilities on offer at Defence for women who are resultsoriented problem solvers.

“Women account for 51 per cent of Australia’s population and are a critical talent pool within the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” Mr Chester said.

“The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is working to attract and retain more women to set up Defence and our nation for the future.

“The servicewomen featured in these videos hope to inspire girls in science, mathematics and technology classrooms across the nation to stay engaged and reach their potential.”

Women in the ADF are operating and maintaining advanced technology on Australia’s submarines, operating remote-controlled drones to keep our troops on the ground safe and flying and maintaining the fastest and most manoeuvrable aircraft in Australian skies.

With Defence acquiring 12 submarines in the future, Australia is set to double its submarine fleet which will require people with the right combination of skills, resilience, personal discipline and teamwork to form the submarine workforce.

“With Australia’s advanced submarines entering service from the early 2030s, girls currently studying STEM subjects at high school could become the future commanding officers of these vessels,” Mr Chester said.

Defence is also one of Australia’s most prolific and experienced users of drones. Multi-skilled team players with excellent problem solving skills will be needed to fly the latest generation of uninhabited surveillance aircrafts and be the eyes and ears of the battlefield.

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“Talented women are also part of the team of technicians keeping the first two F35-A Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in our skies,” Mr Chester said.

“These are just some of the exciting and challenging career opportunities the ADF has to offer to technologically minded individuals.”

The ADF is an equal opportunity employer, offering both full-time and part-time opportunities with salary, training, vocational development and promotion opportunities aligning with peers delivering the same capabilities.

The videos are available at: Navy - www.youtube.com/ watch?v=lcok02_-pPM Army - www.youtube.com/ watch?v=UD9D8sn-VK4 Air Force - www.youtube.com/ watch?v=weFtKNjMqvo

New era for Australian air combat and industrial capabilities Outgoing Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and Defence Industry Minister Steven Ciobo have announced a major step-change for Australia’s air combat and defence industrial capabilities with the unveiling of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System.

Designed for global defence customers by Boeing Australia, it is the company’s largest investment in a new unmanned aircraft program outside the US. The aircraft will complement and extend airborne missions through smart teaming with existing military aircraft.

A model of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System was unveiled at the Australian International Airshow by Minister Pyne and Australia’s Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Leo Davies, AO, CSC. As a research and development activity, the Australian government

and Boeing will produce a concept demonstrator called the Loyal Wingman – Advanced Development Program that will provide key learnings toward the production of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System.

Ministers Pyne and Ciobo said the research and development opportunity was a further demonstration of the Australian government’s collaborative and maturing relationship with Australia’s defence industry as well as international recognition of the nation's strength and capabilities.

"The partnership will produce a concept demonstrator of a low cost, unmanned ‘Loyal Wingman’ aircraft, capable of operating in concert with Air Force’s fifth-generation air combat capability," Minister Pyne said.

Minister Pyne said this was a major milestone for Australia's agenda to develop a competitive and sustainable defence industry, with high-end industrial, manufacturing, research and development capabilities.

"This will be Boeing’s first unmanned aircraft designed and engineered in Australia and represents the company’s largest investment of its kind outside of the United States," he said.

The Boeing Airpower Teaming System is expected to: • Provide fighter-like performance, measuring 38-feet long (11.7 metres) and able to fly more than 2,000 nautical miles; • Integrate sensor packages onboard to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions and electronic warfare; and • Use artificial intelligence to fly independently or in support of manned aircraft while maintaining safe distance between other aircraft.

Marc Allen, president of Boeing International, welcomed the announcement, saying, "This aircraft is a historic endeavour for Boeing. Not only is it developed outside the United States, it is also designed so that our global customers can integrate local content to meet their country-specific requirements."

These comments were echoed

by Kristin Robertson, vice president and general manager for Boeing's autonomous systems division, who said,

D e fe n ce

"The Boeing Airpower Teaming System will provide a disruptive advantage for allied forces’ manned/unmanned missions.

"With its ability to reconfigure quickly and perform different types of missions in tandem with other aircraft, our newest addition to Boeing’s portfolio will truly be a force multiplier as it protects and projects air power."

Minister Ciobo said that Boeing will seek to team with large, medium and small Australian businesses and partner with research organisations, including universities and the Defence Science and Technology Group.

"The development and demonstration of this air vehicle will create around 100 new high-technology jobs in aerospace engineering and design in Australia, as well as wider job opportunities across the supply chain," Minister Ciobo said.

"This proposal could lead to another exciting step forward in Australia’s defence export strategy and provide our allies with critical capabilities based on Australian ingenuity."

Defence will invest around $10 million per year, up to $40 million, to evolve development of this concept.

Defence Connect

Northrop Grumman delivers 500th F-35 centre fuselage component Northrop Grumman has officially announced the delivery of the 500th centre fuselage for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The centre fuselage piece for AU-18 will eventually be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force as an F-35A. Designated AU-18, the 500th F-35 centre fuselage is for a conventional take-off and landing variant for the RAAF. Northrop Grumman began production on the AU-18 centre fuselage

in June 2018 and completed work on 21 February 2019.

A core structure of the F-35 aircraft, the centre fuselage is designed and produced on Northrop Grumman’s integrated assembly line, a state-of-theart facility supported by technologies exclusive to or pioneered by Northrop Grumman bringing together robotics, autonomous systems, virtual 3D and predictive automation to the forefront of centre fuselage production.

Kevin Mickey, sector vice president and general manager of military aircraft systems at Northrop Grumman, welcomed the milestone, saying, “Our teams and suppliers are constantly finding better, more affordable ways to deliver a superior product on time, atcost and, as with this centre fuselage, ahead of schedule. When you couple this level of commitment with advanced manufacturing technologies, it’s just a win-win situation for us, our customer and the warfighter.”

Northrop Grumman has been producing centre fuselages for all three F-35 variants since May 2004 as part of the global F-35 production line. Lockheed Martin is the industry lead for the F-35 program and Northrop Grumman plays a key role in the development, modernisation, sustainment and production of the F-35.

This announcement follows Northrop Grumman’s recent announcement that it had secured additional, follow-on maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) work for Australian and Asia-Pacific allies’ fleets of F-35 JSFs. Based on the recent contract assignment, Northrop Grumman Australia will deliver avionics, composites (teaming with Quickstep) and electro-optics repair (teaming with BAE Systems) services. In providing these services, the company will leverage its existing capabilities, as well as introduce new technologies to the Australian defence industrial community.

Warren King, interim chief executive of Northrop Grumman Australia, said at the time: “Northrop Grumman Australia continues to be fully committed to growing its in-country technical sustainment workforce and capabilities,

and this work will allow us to continue supporting the Royal Australian Air Force’s mission and the Australian defence industry at large.”

To further support the execution of this assignment, Northrop Grumman Australia is establishing an Electronic Sustainment Centre (ESC) to sustain mission-readiness capabilities within the Commonwealth. After achieving readiness in January 2019 to support regional APN-241 radar repair, the ESC is prepared to support key fifthgeneration communications, navigation and identification systems.

In addition to producing the centre fuselage and wing skins for the aircraft, the company develops, produces and maintains several sensor systems, avionics, mission systems and missionplanning software, pilot and maintainer training systems courseware, electronic warfare simulation test capability and low-observable technologies.

F o r t h e R A A F, t h e F - 3 5 A’ s combination of full-spectrum lowobservable stealth coatings and materials, advanced radar-dispersing shaping, network-centric sensor and communications suites – combined with a lethal strike capability – means the aircraft will be the ultimate force multiplying, air-combat platform.

Ten nations are currently flying F-35s, including the US, UK, Italy, Norway, Israel and Japan. The F-35A – the variant chosen by the RAAF – will have with a projected life of 30 years in service.

Over the coming years, Australia will purchase 72 of the advanced fifthgeneration fighter aircraft as part of the $17 billion AIR 6000 Phase 2A/B program – which is aimed at replacing the ageing F/A-18A/B Classic Hornets that have been in service with the RAAF since 1985.

Defence Connect

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AFC

Shaping the next generation of mavericks On Point with WGCDR (AAFC) Paul Martin Hughes JP The arrival of the F-35 has sparked the imagination of many young Australians seeking to step into the cockpit and take to the skies. For Wing Commander (AAFC) Paul Martin Hughes JP, the relationship between the RAAF and Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC) is invaluable.

The changing face and nature of air combat is challenging the way the RAAF recruits the next generation of Australian pilots. The AAFC provides an invaluable link to the Air Force and the broader ADF, instilling valuable life skills to develop qualities including leadership, self-reliance, confidence, teamwork and communication.

In this edition of On Point, Defence Connect will discuss the relationship between the RAAF, ADF and AAFC in developing the next-generation of Australia's top gun pilots, ground crews and military leaders for the 21st century with WGCDR (AAFC) Paul Martin Hughes JP.

WGCDR (AAFC) Martin Hughes will also discuss the vital links established between the AAFC and Australia's growing defence and aerospace industries, and the symbiotic relationship developing among the contributing members.

As an introduction, what is your role within the Air Force Cadets?

In essence, I'm one of eight officers commanding within the Australian Air Force Cadets looking after one of the eight wings right across Australia.

Three wing is the largest of the eight wings and it has around about 32 per cent of the total population of the Australian Air Force Cadets. So it's a large geographic area and a large population to deal with around that.

But really, my responsibility's about leadership development. It's about providing opportunities to our young cadets right across the board and providing them with that level of opportunity that allows them to think about future career aspirations as well.

No. 336 Squadron Cadets Ethan Kapoor (left), Sienna Quinlivan (middle) and Zachary McPherson at the No. 3 Wing AAFC Competition held at RAAF Base Richmond.

46

No. 336 Squadron Cadets Harrison Mitchell (left) and Courtney Stafford at the No. 3 Wing AAFC Competition held at RAAF Base Richmond.

And probably, if anything, it's creating something in them that allows them to see themselves differently. So it's a bit like the opportunity that they thought they would've never had, and as a result it allows them to think about what they want to do in terms of career choices moving forward.

The AAFC is sponsored by the Chief of Air Force, and then that cascades down through to the Director General Air Force Cadets, which is based at Cadet Branch Air Force. And then we have an Australian Air Force Cadet structure as well headed up by a Group Captain who is the national commander.

As an organisation, the AAFC is heavily supported both in terms of manpower, Defence support, and that includes ability to go to Air Force bases and stay for a week and put on numerous camps, accommodation, transport.

Why does the RAAF invest in the air cadets, and what is the purpose of this investment?

AFC

I think primarily a couple of things.

One is because they see the potential leadership development of these individuals. At the end of the day, the Australian Air Force Cadets is still a youth development organisation.

It's not primarily a recruiting tool for Defence or Air Force, youth development's still the key part. But what Air Force see in that is the end product of that once they come out and leave air cadets, particularly around leadership, community engagement and understanding. As well as all the other skills that we provide them, and particular good strong awareness of what Defence does and the allied aviation industries.

Does the cadet program support the transition to a career with Defence?

How does time with the cadets support this transition?

I'd say it's an advantage. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a big advantage, only in the sense of what they get from it is they get a really good appreciation and understanding of Defence, and particularly Air Force in this case.

So, they know really what they're going into potentially in terms of what their interest is. Certainly, from a leadership angle in terms of how.

Because obviously as you develop kids' leadership, they mature and they mature quicker, so really what you're getting is a mature individual that's got leadership experience, developing and leading others.

You've got also individuals as well that are much broader in terms of their scope of what they're capable of doing.

So, it isn't just about what they're doing in cadets. It's, what are they doing physically around sport? What are they doing in the community? What have their achievements been at school? So, when you wrap it all together, then yes, they can become very valuable.

I think the other as well is that, typically retention would be better as well once they do get into Defence, because they are familiar with some of the concepts of what Defence is about as well.

Courtesy Defence Connect

AAFC to receive training aircraft The Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC) is set to receive eight Diamond DA40 NG light aircraft for its flight training requirements, the Australian Department of Defence announced on 28 February.

Over the next ten years, these aircraft will provide a standardised flight training platform for aspiring for the cadets, particularly to those who are from regional areas.

The Diamond DA40 NG aircraft will be based at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Amberley in Southern Queensland, RAAF Base

Richmond in New South Wales and RAAF Base Point Cook in Victoria.

The aircraft will be regularly deployed to regional areas on weekends and during school holiday periods.

Darren Chester, Australia’s Minister for Defence Personnel, said: ‘Defence has signed a ten-year contract with Airflite, which includes the provision of maintenance services. Airflite has been the principal maintenance contractor for the Royal Australian Air Force PC-9/A aircraft and has provided outstanding support for the past 30 years.’

New training initiative for AAFC JAR Aerospace, a New South Walesb a s e d c o m p a n y, w i l l w o r k w i t h Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC) in a joint training initiative, the Australian Department of Defence announced on 27 February.

The new initiative will focus on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) based training and will help cadets to learn and keep pace with technologies being adopted by the

Royal Australian Air Force.

As part of the initiative, the AAFC has ordered more than 3,000 microUAS from JAR Aerospace. Working with JAR Aerospace will ensure that every cadet, irrespective of his/her location, has access to engaging and educational STEM courses using UAS technology.

The initiative will be rolled out to the AAFC from 1 July 2019.

Shepherd Media

47

On T h e Rad ar

Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) Langkawi International Airport, Malaysia 26-30 March

Adventure flights, helicopter rides, hot air balloons and a freestyle motocross show are also on offer. Keep the kids entertained with rides, jumping castles, face painting and roaming performers.

As a unique maritime and aerospace exhibition, LIMA regularly attracts leading global companies and is attended by key decision makers representing the heart of the Asia Pacific growth markets.

www.huntervalleyairshow.com.au

Vintage aircraft static displays, military vehicles, car show and much more over this weekend.

LIMA'19 is expected to deliver key players from the international aviation, aerospace, maritime defence and commercial sectors, as well as senior industry, defence and government decision makers from around the world but specifically concentrating on the ASIAN region www.limaexhibition.com/index.php

Hunter Valley Air Show Cessnock Airport, NSW 06-07 April Get ready for an exhilarating weekend as the Hunter Valley Air Show takes to the skies over Cessnock Airport. Daily displays include aerobatic solos, formation aerobatics, warbirds, skydiving and some heart stopping stunts.

The festival also celebrates the best of the Hunter Valley including wine, craft beer, delicious food and handmade markets.

A CA-18 Mustang is expected to conduct a display at the Hunter Valley Air Show, Cessnock Airport.

QLD Air Museum Caboolture, QLD Last October, a Macchi Trainer from Wagga Wagga RAAF Base was recovered â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the 99th acquisition at QAM.

Supplying the most highly trained professional pilots to the Australian Domestic, Pacific Rim & International Industry.

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Aviation Gasoline and Aviation turbine fuel services are to be provided.

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The Chief Executive Mildura Airport Pty Ltd or info@milduraairport.com.au or 0401 992 496

O n Th e R a d a r

The Macchi MB-326 was developed in Italy as a training aircraft to provide both elementary training and advanced combat standard training for pilots and they were used by several Air Forces around the world including the RAAF. QAM’s Macchi A7-072 was operated by the RAAF in a variety of locations and roles for almost 30 years from 1971. It is now being restored back to static display condition.

This restoration is one of many projects currently underway or completed including the Nomad, Sea Venom, Winjeel and DC-3.

On 6 April there’s ‘Jazz Amongst the Jets’ day, a theatre production ‘In-flight Entertainment’ between 16-18 May and annual open cockpit weekend on 6-7 July, plus a hangar dance being organised. www.qam.com.au

Wings Over Illawarra Illawarra Regional Airport, Wollongong, NSW 04-05 May See jaw dropping solo and formation aerobatic displays, classic warbirds, vintage aircraft, and the ADF’s finest fighter jets and transport aircraft.

Immerse yourself in history, see the fully restored Super Constellation, record breaking QANTAS 747 and restored WWII fighters. A great day guaranteed for all the family. www.wingsoverillawarra.com.au

Mexico Aerospace Fair Base Aérea Militar, No. 1 Santa Lucía, Mexico 24-27 April The Mexico Aerospace Fair 2019 is organized by the Secretariat of National Defense through the Mexican Air Force and held for the third time in Mexico.

The Fair (FAMEX) brings together civil, military, security and defense aeronautical leaders in order to promote trade and growth of the national aerospace industry in the region. www.f-airmexico.com.mx/index.html

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LAST HOUSE BLOCKS IN HARRISVILLE

• Build your dream home in Historic Harrisville • Releasing the next stages. Expressions of interest will secure your preferred lot. (completion date to be confirmed) • Town water, power & lovely outlook.

• Various Prices: Stage 6 $165,000, Stage 3, 4, 5 $185,000, Stage 7 $225,000 • Walk to amenities: Hotels, Cafe, Post Office, General Store, Primary School & Hair Salons.

• 20 minutes to Amberley RAAF Base, under an hour to Brisbane.

Contact Ricky Quinn 0418 756 836 ricky@ithinkproperty.com.au | www.ithinkproperty.com.au ithink Property, Circ 160, 160 Brisbane St, Ipswich

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O n Th e R a d a r

Rathmines Catalina Festival Rathmines, NSW, 19 May This popular annual event attracts thousands of flying boat enthusiasts and families who come together to celebrate the Catalina and rich history of Rathmines WWII RAAF Base. By 1941 this was the largest RAAF flying boat facility and home to more than 3,000 personnel during WWII. 332 Airmen from the base lost their lives in flying boat operations during the war.

The festival is one of the largest in Lake Macquarie.

Entertainment for the whole family including live music, classic car show and shine, market stalls, kids’ activities and more in a commemorative nod to Rathmines' unique history.

Highlight of the festival is the spectacular air show featuring a formation aerobatic display.

All profits from the festival will be used to build a hangar and museum to house a restored Catalina and serve as a community centre, recognising the rich military history of Rathmines Park. www.rathminescatalinafestival.com

Paris Air Show Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France, 17-23 June This event, over a hundred years old, is the largest and longest-running aerospace trade show in the world. Since its launch, the Show has been at the very heart of developments in the global aerospace market.

The Show will bring together all the players in the global aviation industry around the latest technological innovations.

The first four days will be reserved for trade visitors, followed by three days open to the general public. https://siae.fr/en/

The F-35A JSF, is scheduled to appear at the RAAF Edinburgh Air Show.

RAAF Edinburgh Air Show Elizabeth, Adelaide 09-10 November With the theme - ‘From Vickers Vimy to 5th Generation’, the Air Show will offer everything for aviation and history enthusiasts. The RAAF’s newest fighter aircraft, the F35A Joint Strike Fighter, will make an appearance. There will also be a display commemorating the first flight across the world from England to Australia by brothers, Ross and Keith Smith in 1919 – the Epic Flight. www.eventbrite.com.au/e/display-at-the-raaf-edinburghairshow-tickets-54680453709 epicflightcentenary.com.au

RELEASING THE NEXT STAGES OF LAND - MARY STREET HARRISVILLE – SCENIC RIM Harrisville is an historic town in the Scenic Rim Region less than 60 minutes West of Brisbane. Warrill Creek, a tributary of the Bremer River, passes through the western parts of the town. Neighbouring towns include Kalbar, Warrill View, Peak Crossing, Mutdapilly and the Heart of the Scenic Rim-Boonah is just 20 minutes’ drive. It’s a fertile region that produces a bounty of fruit, vegetables, wines, milk and gourmet products such as olives, cheese, jams and relishes – and the region offers food and wine lovers a range of experiences, with relaxed café dining, hotel dining and winery experiences.

Once you visit and explore the township of Harrisville you will be sure to enjoy what’s on offer and like many, may even want to live there! Servicing this quaint town are local businesses including a general store, post office, café, mechanic, hair salons, two hotels, police station, fire brigade, primary school, two playgrounds, several churches, winery, antique store, artist, LED lighting studio, with community groups such as The School of Arts Hall (which can be hired out for functions), CWA, Lions Club and Womens Shed, other services include High School buses for Boonah High School and Ipswich High Schools ie. St Mary’s, St Edmond’s,

Grammar School, West Moreton and Bremer High.

The next stages of residential land are soon to be released and are within walking distance to most of these amentities.

31 blocks of various sized land is open for expressions of interest. Applications for two new roads and power and town water connections are expected to be complete by the end of October 2019.

Local Real Estate Agent Ricky Quinn has lived in Harrisville all of her life and is happy to assist in all your Real Estate needs, she is lead agent for this charming country town and also services the surrounding areas. If you are interested in building a new home in this gorgeous rural setting, you can secure a block by calling your Local Agent Ricky Quinn.

51

In B rief

RAAF demonstrates airlift capability with disaster relief support The Royal Australian Air Force’s C-27J Spartans have come to the rescue, providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief to flood affected Queensland.

No. 35 Squadron C-27J Spartan aircraft and personnel from Amberley have responded swiftly to deliver personnel and urgent fuel stocks to Mt Isa and western Queensland in support of flood relief efforts.

The first two flights to western Queensland on 9 February were the first flights of the year for the Squadron and marked the start of flying operations two days earlier than had been scheduled from their new base at Amberley.

Loadmaster Sergeant Jay Goggin said two RAAF C-27J Spartan aircraft and crew worked with Australian Army personnel from 9th Force Support Battalion to load drum fabric collapsible bladders containing 1895 litres of urgent fuel stocks.

"These fuel bladders were delivered to the isolated areas of Richmond and Julia Creek for local civilian helicopters dropping fodder and hay to farmers and livestock devastated by the extreme weather conditions," SGT Goggin said.

Executive Officer No. 35 Squadron, Squadron Leader Mark Seery, expanded on the comments made by SGT Goggin: "The C-27J Spartan is an agile aircraft that can land in austere airfields and along dirt strips enabling the quick insertion of supplies to areas that need it most, and would have otherwise been inaccessible for larger aircraft or via road transport."

The Squadron worked closely with C-17A Globemasters to move more supplies to those affected by the floods.

Australia's first Spartan arrived in 2015 and is currently based at RAAF Base Richmond, operated by No. 35 Squadron. The Squadron will relocate to RAAF Base Amberley once permanent facilities are completed this year. Initial operational capability (IOC) for the Spartan was declared in late 2016.

The C-27J Spartan Battlefield Airlifter complements the ADF's existing air mobility fleet. Its capabilities bridge the gap between Army helicopters, such as the CH-47F Chinook, and larger Air Force aircraft, such as the C-130J Hercules and C-17A Globemaster III. The Spartans provide airlift of people, equipment and supplies in Australia and our region. It can operate from unsurfaced airstrips, and support humanitarian missions in remote locations.

A C-27J Spartan from No.35 Squadron is loaded with fuel drums at RAAF Base Townsville, bound for Normanton, far north Queensland, to assist in flood relief efforts.

Photo SGT Andrew Eddie.

52

Lockheed Martin received $31M for sustainment services for Australian F-35s The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that Lockheed Martin has been awarded $31 million for sustainment services for Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F-35 Lightning II aircraft.

According to a statement, Lockheed Martin is awarded $31,3 million for modification P00044 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N0001916-C-0004) for sustainment services for F-35 Lightning II low-rate initial production Lot X aircraft for the government of Australia.

Also noted that work will be performed in Williamtown, Australia, and is expected to be completed in January 2021.

The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter is the Australian Defence Force’s first fifthgeneration air combat capability. It is a highly advanced multi-role, supersonic, stealth fighter which will meet Australia’s requirements to defeat current and emerging threats.

The F-35A is at the forefront of air combat technology. Its advanced sensors and data fusion allows it to gather more information and share it with other Air Force aircraft, Navy ships and Army units quicker than ever before. This will greatly enhance the Australian Defence Force’s situational awareness and combat effectiveness. In addition, to greatly enhanced situational awareness, the F-35A provides its pilots with significantly higher levels of lethality and survivability in combat.

The Australian Government has approved the acquisition of 72 Conventional Take-Off and Landing F-35A aircraft to replace the ageing F/A-18A/B Hornet fleet.

The first F-35A aircraft was accepted into Australian service in 2018 and the first squadron, Number 3 Squadron, will be operational in 2021. All 72 aircraft are expected to be fully operational by 2023.

In Br i e f

Air Force joins US and Japan for Exercise Cope North Exercise Cope North, a multilateral field training exercise involving the United States Air Force (USAF), Japan Air SelfDefense Force (JASDF), and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was held between 18 February to 8 March 2019 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

More than 450 Air Force personnel and an Air Task Group comprising F/A18A Hornet, E-7A Wedgetail, C-27J Spartan, KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker/ Transport aircraft as well as combat support and medical elements were deployed for the Exercise.

The Exercise involved more than 2900 personnel and approximately 100 aircraft, the aim to increase combat readiness and interoperability between the USAF, JASDF and RAAF. Group Captain Nicholas Hogan, Australian Commander for Exercise Cope North, said it was an effective way to strengthen military alliances.

The bilateral exercise is designed to enhance joint operational capability alongside military aircraft from the United States Air Force and Japanese Air Self-Defence Force.

The Exercise provided a quality venue to develop multilateral interoperability and coalition procedures

in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and air power missions, including air superiority, close air support, interdiction, electronic warfare, tactical airlift, aerial refuelling and airborne command and control.

Aircrew were exposed to large force employment on a scale not possible in Australia when they performed counter air, precision strike and offensive air and surveillance support.

The RAAF prepares for its final year of operating the classic Hornet A Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18B Classic Hornet returned to its base at Willimtown in New South Wales with a brand-new paint job.

The distinctive design features black on orange tiger stripes along the dorsal spine of the No.2 Operational Conversion Unit (2OCU) aircraft and on the inside of the vertical fins. The outside of the fins features the 2OCU Tiger head on a black background.

The new paintwork celebrates the units final year of Classic Hornet operations, primarily training pilots to fly the F/A-18A-F/A-18B aircraft.

RAAF Aircraft Life Support Fitter, LAC Jasper Coulembier, waits to assist with unloading a 35SQN C-27J Spartan at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, during Exercise Cope North 19.

More than 450 Air Force personnel and an Air Task Group were deployed for Exercise Cope North. Photo SGT Kirk Peacock.

53

F eat ure Story

Exercise Red Flag a success Exercise Red Flag 19 has wrapped up with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter demonstrating the lethal air-to-air capabilities of the fifth-gen platform in a series of near-peer air combat drills.

The Exercise Red Flag series is hosted by the United States Air Force 414th Combat Training Squadron and is held several times a year with a number of domestic and international participants. Australia has been a regular participant in the Red Flag exercise since 1980.

Aircraft and personnel deploy to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada for Red Flag under the Air Expeditionary Force concept and make up the exercise’s “Blue” forces. By working together, these Blue forces are able to utilise their diverse capabilities to execute specific missions, such as air interdiction, combat search and rescue, close air support, dynamic targeting and defensive counter air.

These forces use various tactics

to attack NTTR targets such as mock airfields, vehicle convoys, tanks, parked aircraft, bunkered defensive positions and missile sites. Targets are defended by a variety of simulated “Red” force ground and air threats to give participant aircrews the most realistic combat training possible.

Exercise Red Flag was established in 1975 as the brainchild of Colonel Richard “Moody” Suter and one of the initiatives directed by General Robert J. Dixon, then commander of Tactical Air Command, to better prepare our forces for combat.

Lessons from Vietnam showed that if a pilot survived his first 10 combat missions, his probability of survival for remaining missions increased substantially. Red Flag was designed to expose each “Blue 4” pilot to his first 10 “combat missions” at Nellis AFB, allowing him to be more confident and effective in actual combat.

2019 saw the F-35 return to Exercise

Red Flag to participate in a series of highintensity, complex and peer adversary aimed air combat missions, testing man and machine to the limits, particularly in “contested or denied environments”, which employ active electronic attack, communications jamming and active GPS denial, severely hindering the modern warfighter.

During this phase of the testing, the F-35 positioned itself as one of the key “combat battlefield” coordinators, responsible for collecting, managing, analysing and distributing intelligence data to the Blue Force all while prosecuting attacks against threats, returning to an advanced information collector and distributor for older fourth and 4.5 generation fighter aircraft via Link-16.

Lieutenant Colonel Yosef Morris, US Air Force 4th Fighter Squadron commander, said, “Those situations highlight the fifth-generation capabilities of the F-35. We’re still able to operate

WE ARE SEEKING EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR DEVELOPMENT AT THE PORT PIRIE AERODROME

The city of Port Pirie located 220 kilometres north of Adelaide on the Upper Spencer Gulf within easy distance to the Flinders Ranges. The Aerodrome is located 5 kilometres south of the CBD of Port Pirie. The airport consists of a 3 runway layout making it ideal for pilot training and also servicing aero-medical, charter and private flying. Av Gas and Jet A1 fuel available.

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Opportunities for development include: • Residential Airpark • Private hangar development • Aircraft Maintenance Facilities • Commercial and industrial development Go to www.pirie.sa.gov.au for further details.

Expressions of Interest close on 31 March 2019.

F e a tu r e Sto r y

The Australian contingent and participating aircraft.

Photos David Cotton

and be successful. In a lot of cases, we have a large role as an integrated quarterback. Our ability to continue to fuse and pass information to the entire package makes every aircraft more survivable.”

As part of the first week of exercises, F-35s flew as part of a large force in a counter-air mission against more than 60 “aggressor” aircraft, which leveraged advanced electronic attack capabilities to blind the Blue Force fleet of fourthgeneration aircraft to both air and surface-based threats.

The F-35’s unique blend of lowobservable stealth technologies, combined with the airframe performance and “sensor fusion” enabled the pilots to reshape both the battlespace and the battles themselves: “With stealth, the F-35 can get closer to threats than many other aircraft can. Combined with the performance of the fused sensors on the F-35, we can significantly contribute to the majority of the missions,” LTCOL Morris added.

Red Flag is not a rolling campaign, the exercises are made up of different

scenarios that increase in difficulty as the weeks go on. This allows the integrated force to learn how best to capitalise on the strengths and protect the weaknesses of each platform in very specific mission sets.

The evolving nature of the exercises has demonstrated the capability of the F-35 to operate and survive in complex, high-intensity combat situations, seemingly addressing capability concerns about the aircraft, raised throughout the history of the world's largest defence project.

“Even in this extremely challenging environment, the F-35 didn’t have many difficulties doing its job. That’s a testament to the pilot’s training and the capabilities of the jet,” said Colonel Joshua Wood, US Air Force 388th Operations Group commander.

For Australia, the success of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft comes as a vote of confidence in the Royal Australian Air Force’s future fighter fleet. Over the coming years, Australia will purchase 72 of the advanced fifthgeneration fighter aircraft as part of

the $17 billion AIR 6000 Phase 2A/B program – which is aimed at replacing the ageing F-18A/B Classic Hornets that have been in service with the RAAF since 1985.

Ten nations are currently flying F-35s, including the US, UK, Italy, Norway, Israel and Japan. More than 340 F-35s are operating today with partner nations, more than 700 pilots and 6,500 maintainers have been trained, and the F-35 fleet has surpassed more than 170,000 cumulative flight hours.

Courtesy Defence Connect

Security personnel from participating nations walk through a hangar at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, USA.

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How Sarah made her ADF experience matter

What gives you an edge at university?

After eight years’ service with the Royal and time management skills, as key to Australian Navy (RAN), Medical Sailor helping her manage study and work.

Sarah Wheeler decided to make her “The ability to work in stressful highexperience count by specialising in a tempo areas has allowed me to be able to cope with my work, study and field close to her heart – paediatrics.

“I spoke to a few colleagues who personal commitments.” had either started or completed their Qualifications count study through Charles Sturt University “You learn a lot of skills in the ADF that (CSU) other universities, andCharles I was Sturt And weorvalue yours.

That’s why University has created a new don’t always (CSU) correlate with a civiliantold that CSU wereusing very your supportive admission pathway militaryofexperience as a benchmark.

It’s our Experience recognised qualification, which can Defence personnel.

They also offered Matters Entry Program, developed in partnership the Australian Veterans make with it difficult to get a Student job without a the degree I wanted to complete via certificate to say you can do it.

Association.

“Don’t give up! Sometimes it will be online education.” need to be motivated and We use your rank to work out an equivalent“You ATAR. hard to maintain service commitments CSU grants special consideration committed to study. Not only to be able and study commitments but keep at it – So if you’ve your recruit training, initial employment training (or equivalent per requests forcompleted service personnel whose to meet the study requirements but also branch ofare service) and have at two years’ experience, you’ll be eligible for most CSU you’ll feel amazing when you finish and studies interrupted byleast military to face any obstacles or challenges you undergraduate programs. tell people all you have accomplished. service, regardless of whether they are may face.”

Remain positive. You can do this and We serving believe or in are yourreservists. experience and we believe in advice? you. still Sarah’s you will get there!”

Whetherityou’re or formalise yourdegree previous with Fitting all in looking to start your next career “Try and start your atexperience a time Because experience matters at a uni degree, CSU hasDefence got your back.

Sarah’s Australian Force where you know you won’t be deployed CSU, Sarah is ready to start her future (ADF) experience and training prepared in the near future. That gives you the career in the civilian healthcare industry. her for university study. She credits opportunity to get used to studying skills common to ADF personnel, such again before having to do it in remote Find out how your experience matters For more information, visit as the capacity to adapt to change locations. futurestudents.csu.edu.au/defence futurestudents.csu.edu.au/defence

Experience.

Australia looks to the stars as military chief signals Air Force space expansion

The Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) Provider Number for Charles Sturt University is 00005F. © Charles Sturt University, 2019. F6008.

Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Leo Davies has said Canberra should exploit its geography to increase the country’s presence in space, admitting however that the nation lags behind the world’s superpowers.

“Space is one of those domains that needs to expand — our understanding of what is in the sky above us is important,” Air Marshal Davies said.

Speaking at the Avalon International Air Show outside Melbourne, Air Marshal Davies has predicted a “significant investment” in space for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) over the next twenty years.

“We started with bows and arrows and we got through to missiles — I think space is one of the next logical elements for us to be part of, defend, and also be viable partners in,” he said.

“We have begun modestly — as we begin to understand the part we play, the importance of that is growing very quickly”.

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Davies predicted that the RAAF will commit a “significant investment” in space in the next twenty years.

The Australian government predicts that by 2030 the national space industry will represent some $12 billion to the economy, and last year it established a dedicated Australian Space Agency.

Davies commented on rumours that Canberra would launch a “big military satellite,” saying that it is unlikely that something like that will “happen imminently”.

“As we look at what we are able to do, that would include increased satellite launches, increased sophistication about what’s onboard the satellite”, he said.

Recently, the Defence Force initiated two projects intended to form the foundation of the nation’s military space support.

One project, named DEF-799, seeks to allow the military direct and timely access to commercial imaging

satellites. It will also seek to acquire new space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability, Radio New Zealand reports. The project’s cost is estimated at roughly US $355 million.

Another, JP-9102B, will develop next-generation Defence Force satellite communications systems that will improve the command and control of deployed forces using space assets.

Daies said that the Australian military does not plan to create its own version of a Space Force, like US President Donald Trump recently announced.

“I don’t think so, not at this point”, he said about the idea. “That might be some time off and something that both Defence and successive governments could think about”.

If authorised by Congress, the Space Force proposal would allow for the creation of a sixth service of the US military alongside the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.

What gives you an edge at university?

Experience.

And we value yours. That’s why Charles Sturt University (CSU) has created a new admission pathway using your military experience as a benchmark. It’s our Experience Matters Entry Program, developed in partnership with the Australian Student Veterans Association.

We use your rank to work out an equivalent ATAR. So if you’ve completed your recruit training, initial employment training (or equivalent per branch of service) and have at least two years’ experience, you’ll be eligible for most CSU undergraduate programs.

We believe in your experience and we believe in you.

Whether you’re looking to start your next career or formalise your previous experience with a uni degree, CSU has got your back.

For more information, visit

futurestudents.csu.edu.au/defence The Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) Provider Number for Charles Sturt University is 00005F. © Charles Sturt University, 2019. F6008.

H istor ica l

KOREAN WAR HERO Max ‘Bluey’ Colebrook, DFM, AM (US)

by Charles Page Max ‘Bluey’ Colebrook was shot down by ground fire over Korea, and never seen again. A victim of the Korean War (1950-1953), Max was a brilliant pilot, cut short of a promising career. He was one of 77 Squadron’s 41 pilots lost in the war. By the time he was shot down, the war had reached a stalemate, with the frontline slanting across the 38th parallel. As the Meteor was outclassed by the Mig 15, the Squadron was tasked with ground attack and had proved most effective in this role.

Maxwell Edwin Colebrook was born in Perth on 8 May 1926 and educated at Kalamunda State School and Hale School, West Perth. He excelled at golf and tennis, played for the Hale football team, was a keen aeromodeller, and a Boy Scout. With his auburn hair, he was nicknamed ‘Bluey'. After leaving school in 1940, he studied at City Commercial College and was employed as a clerk at Lynas Motors.

On 8 May 1942 he joined the Air Training Corps (s/n3587) 78 Squadron, Maylands, and achieved Stage 1 Proficiency. When Max left the ATC on 19 May 1944, his Commanding Officer wrote ‘Excellent cadet’ on his report, and Wing Commander Charles Snook later gave him a glowing reference.

Max enlisted in the RAAF (442156) on 20 May 1944 and was posted to No.5 Initial Training School, Clontarf. He continued to No.10 Elementary Flying Training School, Temora, where he 58

flew 65 hours on Tiger Moths and was recommended for fighters. However, with the war nearly over, his training was discontinued, and he remustered as a transport driver.

He was demobilised on 20 May 1946, after which he worked as a commercial traveller, and established a food retail business in Perth. He enjoyed golf and playing tennis with his friend Brian Nairn, who also had his flying training cut short. Max kept up his flying skills by flying privately.

In 1949, Max reapplied for the RAAF and was posted to No.1 Flying

Training School, at Uranquinty on 28 February. After training on Tiger Moths, he progressed to Wirraways, Central Flying School, East Sale, and then twin-engine Oxfords at Uranquinty. Max was awarded his ‘Wings' on 10 August 1950 and won the Flying Prize for his course. He was then posted to No.3 Squadron (Tac/R), Fairbairn, where he flew Austers, Wirraways and Mustangs.

He was graded above average, and an airman with great potential.

His next posting, on 26 February 1951 was to No.77 Squadron, at Kimpo, Korea, where he flew the Mustang, and later the Meteor on operations into North Korea. Max flew 23 sorties on the Mustang fighter and 78 on the Meteor. These operations included armed reconnaissance, rocket strikes, napalm strikes, combat air patrols, and escorting US bombers.

On 3 November 1951, Max was flying Meteor A77-368 and was credited with damaging a Mig-15 in combat.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (gazetted 30 May 1952) and the US Air Medal (gazetted on 30 October 1953). He returned to Perth on 12 December 1951 for leave and a posting to Pearce. However, Max then volunteered for a second tour with 77 Squadron on 11 March 1952. After several more sorties, he was promoted to Pilot Officer (s/n O5895) on 12 April 1952.

2 Meteors (Colebrook in lower one) on a road reconnaissance, 1951.

H i sto r i ca l

On 13 April 1952, Max ‘Bluey’ Colebrook was paired with Sergeant Phil Zupp for an attack on Haeju, where they rocketed a supply tunnel, revetment and buildings. Two hours later, Max was detailed for another attack, with Flight Lieutenant Pete Middleton. The pair were briefed for an armed patrol of the supply route from Panmunjom to Pyongyang. They were also requested to check on a heavy gun position at Masan Ni, that Max had previously spotted.

With Middleton leading, Max took off in Meteor A77-627 at 1535 hrs, with radio call sign ‘Godfrey White 2'. An attack was made on enemy motorcyclists near Sariwon. The pair then found the location of the heavy gun, and Middleton dived down from 10,000 to 50 feet and passed just to the south of the suspected gun. Without firing, Middleton pulled up, broke port, looked back at the location and noticed dust clouds rising from it as if it had been strafed.

Middleton levelled off at 5,000 feet, and was flying in a westerly direction when he heard Max call, “I'm hit, I'm hit.” Middleton glanced to port and saw a Meteor flash past in the opposite direction, with the ventral tank on fire.

Middleton called for Max to drop the ventral tank, to which Max replied “has my ventral gone” or “my ventral has gone.” After a few seconds, Max said,

Colebrook 1951, Kimpo Korea, prior to an operational mission over North Korea.

“I still have two donks going and I'm heading straight for home on a course of 150.” Middleton replied, “Keep going, I'll catch up.” Middleton immediately made a call on the emergency channel and then asked Max for a position report, but there was no reply.

After searching the area without any sign of the aircraft, Middleton returned to base. The squadron sent more aircraft on the search until dark and

Meteors over a rural village near Kimpo, South Korea 1952

searched all the next day. Sergeant Phil Zupp thought he and his number two saw a parachute, but nothing was confirmed.

Max ‘Bluey’ Colebrook was reported missing believed killed. He was just 25. His body was never recovered and he is commemorated at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, Busan, South Korea. On 21 June 1956, at UN Headquarters New York, a memorial plaque was dedicated to those who died in Korea, in service of the UN. As well as the DFM and US Air Medal, Max was awarded the British Korea Medal and the United Nations Medal. Max is also commemorated at Kings Park, Perth; the Australian War Memorial, Canberra; and the Honour Board and Book of Remembrance at 7 Wing Australian Air Force Cadets, RAAF Pearce. The forward fuselage of Meteor A77-368 Max flew in his dog fight with the Mig-15 is on display at the Australian War Memorial.

Sources: National Archives: Colebrook M E service record, casualty file, Commonwealth War Graves, AWM, Aviation Museum Bull Creek, Brian Nairn RAAFA Merriwa, Wings of Valour – Charles Page

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F eat ure Story

CAE to offer simulator training to support Aussie RPAS CAE is leveraging its successful next-generation simulator training for international Reaper-based RPAS fleets to position itself as the preferred training partner ahead of Australia’s planned AIR 7003 acquisition.

CAE Australia has established itself as a partner with Team Reaper Australia (TRA) focused on leveraging the successes the company has developed across the training and simulator services for Reaper-based RPAS fleets in Italy, the UK, UAE and the US. This positioning within Team Reaper Australia prepares CAE Australia to provide a range of services following the Commonwealth’s decision regarding the approach and requirements for training support for Australia’s fleet of RPAS systems. These services could include: • training needs analysis services • simulators and training devices (i.e.

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desktop trainers, high-fidelity mission trainers) • training services (i.e. academic, simulator and live-flying instruction as well as maintenance and support services on training devices) • c o u r s e w a r e a n d c u r r i c u l u m development • training centre operations CAE has positioned itself as the preferred training and simulation partner of original equipment manufacturer GA-ASI since 2013, following the announcement of a global memorandum of understanding to support training and simulation for the GA-ASI Predator/ Reaper family of RPAS. “Our extensive experience collaborating with General Atomics on the development and delivery of training solutions for GA-ASI’s family of remotely piloted air systems will enable us to deliver a mature and proven training

system to help the Australian Defence Force create the well-trained cadre of pilots and sensor operators needed for mission operations,” said Ian Bell, CAE’s vice president and general manager, Asia Pacific/Middle East.

The training collaboration with GA-ASI has paved the way for CAE to provide simulation products and training services for customers including the Italian Air Force and the United Arab Emirates Air Force. The Italian Air Force program provided a highly specialised simulator enabling the Italian Air Force to train with “zero flight time”, meaning aircrew can be entirely qualified to operate the MQ-9 Reaper without necessarily training on the actual aircraft.

The specialised Italian Air Force Predator Mission Trainer is believed to be the world’s first Level D simulator for an RPAS. Level D is the highest

F e a tu r e Sto r y

qualification for slight simulators, with the simulator recently accepted into service at Amendola Air Base in Italy.

Building on this, CAE’s partnership with the UAE has seen the company establish and maintain the specialised training academy for the UAE Air Force for its fleet of RQ-1E Predator aircrews, including all the required academic, simulator and live-flying training that is required to train the UAE Air Force aircrews.

“Our experience on GA-ASI’s platforms will prove valuable in designing the overall training program for the Royal Australian Air Force, but so too will our experience providing a range of simulation-based training systems already in service for the ADF,” continued Bell. “CAE is a leading supplier of simulation systems to the ADF on platforms such as the KC-30A, C-130J, MH-60R and MRH90, among others, so we will be able to deliver commonality and interoperability to support distributed and networked mission training capabilities.”

The relationship established between CAE and GA-ASI has recently expanded to include CAE’s selection by GA-ASI to develop the synthetic training system for the Royal Air Force’s fleet of Protectors (MQ-9B SkyGuardian).

This marks a major milestone for the Protector fleet, which will see the system certified as the first RPAS certified to fly in civilian airspace.

The Protector will be operated by the RAF and is the UK-specific variant of GA-ASI’s certifiable MQ-9B SkyGuardian RPAS, which is being built

to meet the most stringent certification requirements of aviation authorities.

Under terms of the contract, CAE will design and develop a comprehensive synthetic training system that will include desktop and high-fidelity mission trainers specific to the Protector RPAS. CAE’s high-fidelity Protector mission trainers will be based on GA-ASI’s certifiable Ground Control Station (CGCS) and will be the first simulators developed for this advanced CGCS. CAE will also provide brief/debrief and scenario generation stations as part of the overall synthetic training system.

“Protector will offer a new level of capability in an unmanned air system and will require a cadre of professional, well-trained aircrews to operate,” said Bell. “The synthetic training system will be an integral part of the overall training program and we are pleased to again collaborate with GA-ASI on its

development.”

The company’s experience across the globe providing the ground station, simulator and training support for remotely piloted aircraft aircrews positions the company to provide Australia’s yet-to-be-selected RPAS fleet with high-fidelity, reliable and globally recognised, standardised and interoperable training.

The TRA team consists of 10 Australian companies providing a range of innovative sensor, communication, manufacturing and life cycle support capabilities that includes Cobham, CAE, Raytheon, Flight Data Systems, TAE Aerospace, Quickstep, AirSpeed, Rockwell Collins Australia, Ultra and SentientVision.

Project AIR 7003 will provide the Australian Defence Force with an armed medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) RPAS that will include aircraft and ground control stations that will be fully interoperable with Australia’s allies.

C A E ’s d e f e n c e a n d s e c u r i t y business unit focuses on helping customers develop and maintain the highest levels of mission readiness. It is a training systems integrator offering a comprehensive portfolio of training centres, training services and simulation products across the air, land, sea and public safety market segments.

GA-ASI, an affiliate of privately held General Atomics, manufactures RPAS, radars and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions.

Courtesy Stephen Kuper, Defence Connect Images CAE

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CHARLEVILLE CHARLEVILLE

COSMOS COSMOS

CENTRE CENTRE Understanding our ever changing perspective of the Universe can be tricky, but when you visit the Charleville Cosmos Centre you will be able to send your mind on a journey that will help your understanding of the Universe and more importantly, just where we fi t into this grand stage.

Day or night, the Cosmos Centre offers different tours, so there is always a special voyage to embark on while experiencing Charleville in Outback Queensland.

STORIES OF ASTROLOGY The ancestral connection to the sky This night experience brings back this knowledge from the days of old and helps us all reconnect to the sky once again in a very unique and special way. » Listen to ancient stories around a fire pit » Learn about how ancient cultures used the » Ancient cultures covered may include stars for all sorts of interesting reasons.

Greek, Egyptian, Native American, Japanese, African, Greenland, Aboriginal Australian and so many more.

SUN VIEWING The safest and coolest way to look at the Sun Looking at the Sun is always a challenge, it’s simply too bright and harmful for our eyes. Fear not, the Hydrogen Alpha Sun telescope is never far away at the Charleville Cosmos Centre.

ASTRONOMY

BY DAY What do you know about Sapce?

Come and immerse yourself in our ‘Outback Stargazing’ theatre and challenge your knowledge of what you may know about space, astronauts and more.

Enjoy the interactive Cosmos Shuttle and listen to the stories of what we think we know a bout space junk and shooting stars. Maybe you will even get an opportunity to hold a meteorite in your hand.

Phone: 07 4654 7771 Email: enquiries@cosmoscentre.com

Top Secret WWII Tour Step inside the world of the ‘Top Secret Precinct – Charleville’ and discover what 1942 marked the arrival of...

The USAAF arrived in Charleville during WWII. They set up camp here for four years and would spend around $1.4m (1940’s currency) constructing 101 buildings on the site.

It was a Top Secret base throughout WWII and even if the enemy knew they were here, they couldn’t get to Charleville and return to their base as Charleville was too far inland.

This USAAF base would cover an area of approximately 25 square kilometres south of Charleville and station up to 3500 (Charleville’s population today) personnel on site.

So just how do you keep something that large a secret? Book the Top Secret WWII Tour today to discover what the top secret actually was and listen to the story behind it all ... it’s fascinating - you won’t be disappointed.

Follow your local guide in your own vehicle around what once was a USAAF Top Secret Base inside today’s Top Secret Precinct. The journey is 4 kilometres on some dirt and tar roads just around the Airport area.

‘Brisbane Line’ coming soon!

APRIL – SEPTEMBER DAILY TOURS FROM 10:30AM OCTOBER – MARCH MON, WED & FRI from 8:00AM

BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL

To book go to www.experiencecharleville.com.au or call 07 4654 7771 Download the Charleville App for further tour details and updates!

CR132923AA

www.charleville.eventapp.com.au

Transition

TRANS S I M P L What do I

OFFER? SKILLS? EXPERTISE? STRENGTHS? A D e f e n c e c a r e e r o ff e r s m a n y strengths, skills and achievements that are relevant and transferable to a civilian workplace. After your initial training, you will have accrued skills such as adaptability, attention to detail, cooperation, cultural sensitivity, professional ethics, reliability, situational awareness, stress management and teamwork (to name a few).

After managing a team, you will have also accumulated skills such as coaching, facilitating group discussions, managing a team to meet deadlines, mentoring, personnel management, team building and supervisory/ management skills, etc.

However, while you’re still serving it is typical to think that your military role equates only to further military work.

I know I certainly did after a 20 year Army career. So don’t beat yourself up if you’re thinking like that. With a broader understanding and a little

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help, you will be able to see beyond ‘pigeon-holing’ yourself into only similar roles you had in your military career.

So we encourage you to take the time to explore career options and seek guidance on aligning your transferable skills to other industries and jobs. When you do this, it opens up many more opportunities and greatly increases your ability to see beyond the uniform more clearly.

Consider a new career direction well before you leave Defence. Remember that what you decide to do is not final or absolute. In today’s job market, the average time spent with any one employer is now approximately five years and the younger generations are changing jobs every two years. This means long-term careers are becoming less likely. Statistics show that young job seekers who leave school today will change careers (not just jobs) nine times before they retire. Therefore, whatever decision you make today, won’t necessarily lock you in until retirement.

Your written application is typically the “first impression” employers see of you. First impressions have a massive impact on your success or failure during this process. A written application includes: CV/Resume | Cover Letter | Selection Criteria/Suitability Statement | Linked-In profile | Social Media presence

Your written application should include more than what’s on your Duty Statement and the list of things you have been responsible for. If this describes your written application – stop and get help now! It should include your demilitarised transferable skills (targeted toward the industry/job you wish to attract) and your workplace achievements. Achievements tell an employer about you from a cultural perspective - for example, your work ethic, initiative, team work, management performance, customer service and desire to improve your professional skill sets.

The most effective written application is one that quickly highlights to the employer how your skills match the skills required for their job. This is the area where most job search frustration occurs. So, spend time getting this area right and you’ll have much greater success. The same principle also applies to the best way of promoting yourself at the job interview. Talk specifically to the points the employer is looking to use to grade applicants and you’ll be doing the best you can to secure that job.

We recommend that at everything step of finding new employment, remove or replace military terms with every-day language. This will be challenging if you’ve never thought of doing this before. But you can

Tr a n si ti o n

SITION L I F I E D if you avoid language like “I have commanded teams of various sizes on many deployments in different situations”, or “I managed a team to achieve the Commander’s intent at sea and at shore”. While these examples aren’t using military-specific terms, they make statements that only you know the context of. If you wish to use statements like these, then add examples of what you refer to. For example; “on my last overseas deployment to Iraq, I managed a team of 10 staff for nine months to provide close protection and surveillance at airports, compounds and small villages.” Or “I managed a team of four highly skilled technicians over six months to operate the ship’s combat radar systems whilst under pressure on high-intensity operations”.

Bottom line - The effectiveness of any written application is only determined by the ratio of applications sent to interviews gained. If you’re sending out many applications, but not getting at least 50% success rate of being invited to an interview, then your written application needs adjusting.

Similarly; the effectiveness of promoting yourself at a job interview is assessed by the number of job offers you get in relation to the number of interviews you attend. If either of these ratios aren’t what you’d like, ask for help. Right at this moment, in Australia there are a number of funding sources available if

the lack of finances is preventing you from seeking assistance.

Defence invest significant time and money in training you to think and perform your military role to achieve the military mandate. We all know that this ‘regimented way’ of operating is different to most non-Defence workplaces.

However, little is offered to help you know how it is different, how to adjust when engaging with civilian employers and also with new team mates when entering a non-Defence workplace.

When engaging with employers, you should know that typically the following traits are much stronger in Defence focus on safety, teamwork, work rate and work ethic, professionalism and attitude to task completion.

The greatest transition challenge is in relating the commercial value you bring to civilian employers. You know you can work hard, but just saying that isn’t enough. Most exDefence members are already very well equipped to get a civilian job in either Operations, Security, Work Health & Safety or Teaching. If you think you have little to offer a commercial organisation, think again.

There are any number of people and organisations wanting to offer help.

But who is best placed to help you with your transition and find a job on a good salary? Our experience is that only someone who personally understands

how challenging it is to relate military experiences to civilians and who has also worked in commercial workplaces can understand you, your current situation and help you through the next few months of your transition.

Its your choice to either find your feet through trial and error (which will take time), or seek assistance from those who have gone before you. How much time do you have to learn through trial and error on how to compete with other job seekers for commercial opportunities?

Seeking transition assistance can be challenging, given there are so many organisations out there offering help. But think of it as learning a new language, because talking in military terms to a civilian employer won’t work in such a competitive environment.

Would you prefer to learn Chinese from the Aussie bloke down the road who has only ever taught from a book, or would you prefer to learn from someone who grew up in China and now lives in Australia? In both circumstances, you will be taught Chinese, but you will be able to speak the new language much better from someone who knows both languages and can help with the Aussie dialogue. Choose wisely who you seek help from.

For help in your smooth “Transition to Civilian”, contact Trans-Civ www. transciv.com.au.

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OPEN DAY Saturday 16 March 11am to 3pm Register at wmac.com.au

LOCATED in the heart of Springfield Lakes, Good The school catchment area includes the suburbs Shepherd Catholic Primary School is proving to be within the Springfield development as well as some areas near Greenbank and New Beith. Population a school of choice for parents in the region.

Located in Opperman Drive and spread over four growth in these areas is expected to be significant hectares, the school provides personalised learning for the primary school-aged population, and the for children from Prep to Year 6 based under the school has a plan in place to be account for this patronage of Catherine McAuley, foundress of expected growth over the next 15 years. the Sisters of Mercy. The Mercy Sisters were responsible for the foundation of schools in the western corridor from Brisbane to Ipswich from the late 1800’s which continues to this very day.

As a community, Good Shepherd Primary School aims to promote a faith-relationship with Jesus the Good Shepherd in whom all values find fulfilment.

The vision also takes into account Aboriginal spirituality, which recognises the connections of spirit, people and land. The Jagera and Turriubul people will be acknowledged as the traditional owners of the land on which the school is built.

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Foundation Principal Judith Seery invites families to consider Good Shepherd for your child’s education in a caring, safe environment. Stating that “Our staff are enthusiastic, highly dedicated and committed to the spiritual, emotional, physical, intellectual and social needs of our students through life-long learning. The teachers come with a wide range of experience, skills and expertise and a deep commitment to provide students with quality relationships and positive learning experiences.

We all enjoy working closely with our students and parents/caregivers”.

For further information contact: Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School 58 Opperman Drive, Springfield Lakes, 4300 Ph: 07 3437 5000 www.goodshepherd.qld.edu.au pspringfieldlakes@bne.catholic.edu.au

CRICOS 01329M

UNCOVER THEIR POTENTIAL

Tr a n si ti o n

10 TRANSITION TRAPS The following transition traps are what the team at Trans-Civ have observed over their 14 years in helping ADF members in their transition to civilian life: 1. N o t t h i n k i n g a b o u t y o u r transition until you’re almost out of Defence. Your loyalty won’t be reciprocated.

2. Thinking that your next career move must be the job you have until retirement. The average time in any job now is only five years.

3. Thinking that because you can talk well with people in general, you’ll be fine at job interviews. Talking about yourself in a promoting manner is more difficult than you think.

4. Compiling a Résumé from your own perspective and thinking it will be competitive in this job market. There are over 100 applications on average per job vacancy – above average

applications are no longer competitive.

Only the best applications get through.

5. Thinking that testing the waters with an average Résumé will be OK. You’re asking an employer to judge you on an average Résumé. You can’t decide to send them a better version of you later, as they will already have formed an opinion about your suitability.

6. Using a Resume that has grammatical and spelling errors (this is a major problem). Far too many job seekers send applications out before having them proof read.

7. Thinking a civilian employer will understand the context of your military terms in a written application and at a job interview. In all forms of communication with civilian employers, speak plain language only.

8. Not knowing how to use your existing network to open job opportunities. Your existing network is

the best source of securing your first job outside Defence.

9. Thinking that everyone in your new organisation will love you because you served in the Australian military.

Know that not everyone will love you and respect what you have done in Defence.

10. Working really hard to prove yourself in your new civilian workplace (it may show up your work colleagues).

Be careful of the unintended collateral damage of working too hard in your new job.

ADF Member and Family Transition Seminar ADF Member and Family Transition Seminars help you and your family prepare for your transition into civilian life. You and your family are welcome to attend at any time during your ADF career. Seminars are held nationally where you'll have access to information on topics like: • t r a n s i t i o n s u p p o r t a n d administration • future employment • finance and superannuation • Department of Veterans' Affairs • veteran and family support services • ADF Reserves.

Over the past six months, DCO have been working to change the current ADF Member and Family Transition Seminar based off feedback from members and their families.

At the new seminars, you can get information relevant to your

circumstances by visiting our expo floor or attending information sessions. You’ll be able to choose sessions depending on your interests, and talk one-to-one with representatives from a wide range of stakeholder groups who will provide you with information on transition and the transition support available to you.

If you are an ADF member and would like to attend a seminar register your attendance through CAMPUS. ADF families and support people can register their attendance by emailing Transition National Support Team (adf.transition@ defence.gov.au) including the PMKeys number of the ADF member they are supporting.

For enquiries regarding the seminars you can email Transition National Support Team adf.transition@defence. gov.au

Melbourne

Monday, 25 March 2019

Darwin

Tuesday, 02 April 2019

Hobart

Wednesday, 17 April 2019

Perth

Wednesday, 01 May 2019

Canberra

Wednesday, 08 May 2019

Wagga

Wednesday, 15 May 2019

Shoalhaven Wednesday, 22 May 2019 Tindal

Tuesday, 28 May 2019

Brisbane

Wednesday, 04 June 2019

Adelaide

Wednesday, 19 June 2019

Townsville

Wednesday, 26 June 2019 67

Veterans Information The Hon Darren Chester MP Minister for Veterans' Affairs Minister for Defence Personnel Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC

Enhanced services to be provided to veterans and their families in QLD More assistance is available for veteran service organisations boosting support for veterans and their families in the electorate of Hinkler in Queensland, Minister for Veterans' Affairs Darren Chester announced recently.

Mr Chester and Federal Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt visited Toogoom and Hervey Bay in Queensland to see how additional funding provided through the Building Excellence in Support and Training (BEST) Grants would assist veterans.

"Grants programs such as BEST provide vital financial assistance to ex-service organisations to provide pension, advocacy and welfare to support veterans and their families," Mr Chester said.

"More than $49,000 in Federal Government funding to the Hervey Bay RSL Sub-Branch will assist with salary and office administration.

"Our Government is committed to supporting our 290,000 veterans and their families, and provides more than $11.2 billion each year to deliver essential services and programs."

Last year Hervey Bay RSL SubBranch was aided with more than $79,000 in funding through the Veteran and Community Grants (V&CG) program assisting in providing muchneeded transport for veterans to attend social and commemorative events.

Mr Chester and Mr Pitt were pleased to see first-hand the work of a variety of ex-service organisations supporting veterans in the Hervey Bay community.

"The Hervey Bay RSL Sub-branch plays an important role in supporting our veteran community, and it's great to see they are supported with funding from our Government," Mr Pitt said.

"It is important that the Australian 68

community helps veterans wherever they can as veterans served to defend Australia.

"It's another example of our community helping veterans with a place to work on meaningful projects at their own pace, in their own time and in the company of others."

The V&CG program provides seeding funds for projects that support a healthy, good-quality lifestyle for members. For more information on the grant program, visit the Community Grants Hub at communitygrants.gov.au.

Suppor ting younger veterans in tertiary study More than $157,000 of funding under the latest round of Supporting Younger Veterans Grants, has been awarded to Flinders University, in concert with William Kibby VC Men’s Shed, to develop a program to support younger veterans undertaking tertiary education.

29th January Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Darren Chester and Federal Member for Boothby Nicolle Flint announced that this grant will support younger veterans studying, which will lead to improved pathways as they move into civilian life.

“The Government is putting veterans and families first by supporting the needs of younger veterans as they transition out of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and establish themselves into civilian life.

“This program assists with the establishment of a Veterans@Uni peer group which will provide transition, study and lifestyle support,” Mr Chester said.

“I offer my congratulations to Flinders University who will use some of this

funding to also conduct some research on the barriers and enablers to younger veterans studying at the tertiary level,” Ms Flint said.

Flinders University Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling says the initiative has the potential to make a difference in the lives of many who have served the nation.

“This grant will help equip those who have bravely served our nation to pursue new careers, by supporting younger veterans to successfully transition from service to study,” Professor Stirling says.

Flinders University’s grant recipient Associate Professor Ben Wadham says “Higher Education is a great pathway for some veterans.”

“Veterans often want to give back to the community and our research at Flinders University can help facilitate this. Therapists with military experience in particular have the advantage of having shared experience with veteran clients.”

Young veteran student Kane Hunt is currently completing a psychological science degree and is involved in helping other younger veteran students.

“The values that the army ingrained in me as a soldier – like hard work, initiative and teamwork, all kicked in when I started studying at university and gave me an advantage. I ultimately want to work with veterans and help, in some way, those guys who are facing the same issues after leaving the forces that I did,” Mr Hunt said.

The program will also explore collaboration with researchers at La Trobe University who are undertaking similar work under this grants program.

“This program will provide knowledge and capability in the younger veteran community and the tertiary institution, improving access to tertiary study for younger veterans involved in the initial phase of the program and future transitioning younger veterans,” Mr Chester said.

The next Supporting Younger Veterans Grant round is expected to open for applications in July 2019 and close in August 2019. Applications can be lodged online, through the Australian Government’s Community Grants Hub. Assistance and further information

can also be obtained through visiting the Community Grants Hub, phoning 1800 020 283 or sending an email to support@communitygrants.gov.au.

Expanded online claiming for veterans Faster claim submissions and processing times for veterans and their families are being delivered through a number of recent improvements and features to MyService – the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) online platform.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Darren Chester said veterans and their families can now submit claims for Incapacity Payments online, which is one of the most significant enhancements since the platform’s inception in 2017.

“Our Government is putting veterans and their families first and provides more than $11.2 billion each year to deliver the essential services and programs they rely on,” Mr Chester said.

“DVA’s transformation is about not only upgrading out-dated computer systems but also looking at improving our service delivery to ensure the best possible outcome for veterans and their families.

“Adding incapacity payments to the ever growing list of claims you can now submit online is a significant benefit for those veterans and their families who most need to access to support quickly and easily.

“By providing enhanced online services, veterans and their families are able to access DVA services when and where they need them and the MyService platform has already seen significant reductions to the time and effort required to submit and process claims.”

MyService continues to improve and is focused heavily on collaboration with veterans and their families to ensure DVA is building the programs and services veterans need. The online platform has reduced paper based forms containing 40+ questions on a single form to only 3–7 questions online and already had a significant impact on the average time it takes to process a claim. In some instances the time taken to process a claim can be less than 24 hours.

Eligible veterans who have not registered are encouraged to visit MyService to sign up.

Greater recognition for veterans and their families New legislation introduced into Federal Parliament will provide better recognition of the unique nature of military service and further acknowledge the service and sacrifice of veterans and their families.

The Government’s Australian Veterans’ Recognition (Putting Veterans and their Families First) Bill 2019 will establish an Australian Defence Veterans’ Covenant, and as part of a wider recognition package, a card and lapel pin will be provided to veterans.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Darren Chester said it was a project he has been working on with ex-service organisations since becoming the Minister almost 12 months ago.

“The Government has introduced this legislation to provide a formal way for all Australians to show their appreciation to the men and women who secured the freedoms we enjoy today and to their families who have supported them,” Mr Chester said.

“I have consulted extensively with the ex-service community on the development of this Bill, including discussions with our 5-Eyes counterparts in the United Kingdom who have put in place similar measures.

“The covenant, card and lapel pin will allow the community — whether they are employers, businesses, community groups, veteran or sporting organisations — the opportunity to recognise the service and sacrifice of the men and women who have served our nation.

“Our government is committed to putting veterans and their families first and this legislation is part of a greater suite of measures we are putting in place.

“This Bill will create a separate Act to provide symbolic recognition for all veterans, and does not change current entitlements. “ I m p o r t a n t l y, t h e B i l l b e f o r e Parliament includes a statement requiring the Department of Veterans’

Affairs (DVA) to adopt a beneficial approach when interpreting legislation and applying a fair, just and consistent approach to veterans’ claims. It’s part of our ongoing efforts to transform the culture of DVA.” The Government has received a positive response from businesses which are supportive of the recognition program. The covenant includes an oath, which all Australians will be encouraged to take at community commemorative events, and is underpinned by the new Veteran Card and an Australian Veteran Lapel Pin and a Reservist Lapel Pin.

Defence families will be able to access ForceNet when the service is expanded on March 25 in an effort to improve communication with families of Defence Members.

ForceNet will connect family users with the service related to their sponsoring Defence member, plus the Defence Community Organisation and Defence Families of Australia.

It aims to reduce the time and effort Defence families spend searching for information from Defence and support agencies, such as Defence Community Organisation and Defence Families of Australia, in disparate locations and maximise the support they receive.

Head People Capability MAJGEN Natasha Fox acknowledged that service in the ADF placed unique demands on personnel and families.

“We recognise the need for an effective and secure communications platform to provide a vehicle for ADF leaders, members and their families to connect and share information,” she said.

Defence family members can register to use ForceNet or current Defence ForceNet users can invite a family member to register via their ForceNet profile page.

Family users will initially become members of the family groups of their sponsor’s parent service and posted unit.

Visit forcenet.gov.au or download the free ForceNet App from the App Store or Google Play.

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H istor ica l

Territory Tribute - Australia remembers the bombing of Darwin Military history enthusiasts will be gathering in Darwin for the inaugural Territory Tribute – a series of special events in Darwin running from February 19 to April 24, 2019.

Designed to commemorate and acknowledge the Territory’s unique military history, as well as its continuing strategic military role in Australia’s defence, Territory Tribute features a range of events bookended by the Bombing of Darwin Day Commemorations on February 19.

Territory Tribute also includes some extraordinary stories of war in the first ever International Military Writers’ Festival running from April 5-7, 2019.

“More aircrafts attacked, and more bombs fell on Darwin than Pearl Harbor.”

Yet while Americans revere the events of Pearl Harbour, describing it as ‘a date which will live in infamy’, most Australians are only dimly aware of the bombing of Darwin,” explained Territory Tribute Program Director, Vicktor Petroff.

“In 1941, the equivalent of onetenth of Darwin’s population died on the first day of bombing, and Darwin was bombed more than 70 times in the following 18 months. It was, without a doubt, among the most exceptional events ever witnessed in this country.

As this year marks the 77th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin, we hope people will join us in honouring the many men and women who were there – those who courageously defended

our country, those who selflessly helped others, those who dealt with the aftermath, and of course, those who lost their lives,” said Mr Petroff Created by Australian event organisation, Inspire Strategic Solutions, working in partnership with the Northern Territory Government, Territory Tribute is expected to attract more than 15,000 visitors to the Territory and deliver more than $4 million in estimated visitor expenditure.

Territory Tribute is part of the Territory Government’s record $103 million Turbocharging Tourism stimulus package. www.territorytribute.com.au.

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