Page 37 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb 2020

FEBRUARY 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
AIRPOWER FAST JETS 37
ALTHOUGH the squadron only graduated its last group of Hornet pilots at RAAF Williamtown in December, it had already paved the way with two earlier three-month transition-to-F-35A courses for four experienced fighter pilots and a number of simulator instructors.
By the end of 2020, all F-35A aircrew and technical work- force training will have been moved from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona to RAAF Williamtown together with the five Australian F-35As and instructors that are currently part of the multi-national Pilot Training Centre (PTC) run at Luke AFB by the USAF’s 61st Fighter Squadron.
Group Captain John Haly was the last Director of the Air Combat Transition Office (ACTO), the entity established in 2007 to ensure that the RAAF had the necessary knowledge and per- sonnel in place in order to operate and sustain its F-35As.
The ACTO was quietly closed on 11 December 2019, with the various areas of responsibility transitioning to the relevant command chains. On the same day GPCAPT Haly was appointed Officer Commanding Williamtown’s No 81 Wing, assuming responsibility for the F-35A and Hornet capabilities for Air Force, supported by the relevant CASG project offices.
“We’re focused on providing sustainable air power with the force-in-being while ACTO was also responsible for fu- ture force elements of F-35,” GPCAPT Haly told ADM.
“The elements of ACTO that related to capability devel- opment of the future force (needs/requirements analysis, government approvals etc) are now taken care of within the Air Force Headquarters organisation in Canberra.”
A NEW HOME
The ramping up of Australian-based training was presciently underlined – also on 11 December - with the arrival at William- town of a ferry flight of seven RAAF F-35As from the United States two hours after 2OCU’s last Hornet sortie. Five of the F-35As had been withdrawn from the PTC – five will remain there until late this year – and three were wearing OCU livery.
“Compared to the last few years we now have relatively few people going through Luke. Conducting flying operations off the ramp at Williamtown not only benefits aircrew but also provides the maximum opportunity to accelerate training of our technical workforce and the logisticians and frankly, a lot of our focus is on the logistic capability,” GPCAPT Haly said.
“WE HAVE A RELATIVELY SMALL BUT VERY CAPABLE FORCE MIX IN THE AIR COMBAT FORCE”
LEFT: The latest F-35A Lightning II aircraft arrive at RAAF Base Williamtown.
“The instructor aircrew now at Luke
will be the people who will see out the Australian instruc- tor presence there. We’ll send over a few more tranches of aircrew and a limited number of technical workforce to get some on-the-job training, but they’ll all be home by the end of this year as will the five other aircraft from Luke, so we’ll then have 33 aircraft in Australia.
“By that time the Lightning force within 81 Wing will have an operational squadron (Williamtown-based 3 Squadron) up, ready and able to do a bunch of roles for gov- ernment; we’ll have 2OCU putting ab initio Hawk-trained graduates through the operational conversion course which has always been a cornerstone of RAAF capability; and 160-odd technical personnel will have been trained by the squadron in the course of the year.
“Williamtown’s 77 Squadron is scheduled to transition from the classic Hornet to the F-35A in late 2020 and Tin- dal’s 75 Squadron will follow in 2021. Both these front-line squadrons still have levels of readiness and response times that must be maintained, and No 3 Squadron’s scheduled attainment of Initial Operational Capability (IOC) at the end of this year is not being pushed at the expense of the Hornet capability.”
TRANSITION TIMING
Pilots now flying the classic Hornet will not necessarily move on to the F-35A although that is highly likely, GP- CAPT Haly noted.