Page 24 - Australian Defence Magazine April 2023

24 DEFENCE BUSINESS
AVALON 2023
APRIL 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
Hellfire, Brimstone, Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Sys- tem II (APKWS II) 70 mm laser-guided rockets, the AGM- 179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile, and the Razer low-cost guided munition currently being developed by BAE Systems Australia. This combines a 40–50 kg kinetic or non-kinetic payload with a precision guidance system and a range of more than 25 km.
Other envisaged payloads included electro-optic surveil- lance and targeting sensors, laser designators, electronic support measures, sonobuoy dispensers, and airborne mine-countermeasure systems.
Folded down and partly disassembled, the Strix will be deployable inside a standard 20 ft International Organisa- tion for Standardisation (ISO) container, Christensen said.
A complete Strix deployable capability would typically comprise three air vehicles plus the ground control station, spares, and ground support equipment, which would be containerised or vehicle-mounted.
BOEING PITCHES REDHAWK TO RAAF
Boeing displayed a T-7A Redhawk simulator at the 2023 Avalon Airshow as part of the company’s announcement that it is ready to offer the T-7 advanced pilot training system to Australia.
The T-7 combines a trainer aircraft with a ground-based simulator and would be used to train future Australian pilots of F/A-18F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, F-35s
LEFT: One of the major events on the opening day of Avalon 2023 was the unveiling of the Strix armed UAS by BAE Systems
BELOW LEFT: Honeywell and Inmarsat demonstrated reliable high-bandwidth connectivity during the demonstration flights from Avalon
and other defence aircraft using live and virtual simulation. “The T-7 would fit right into the pilot training and air- craft sustainment our team currently provides for the Aus- tralian Defence Force,” Scott Carpendale, Vice President
and Managing Director of Boeing Defence Australia said. “Because the US and Australia already have a high de- gree of interoperability due to flying similar aircraft types, an Australian T-7 could lead to new joint training scenarios
between the two countries.”
The announcement from Boeing comes as the RAAF
continues its search to source a replacement for its fleet of BAE Hawk Mk.127 Lead-In Fighter jet trainers under the $5 billion Air 6002 Phase 1 program.
Boeing initially proposed the T-7 solution in response to the Request for Information (RFI) for Air 6002 Phase 1 which closed August 2020 – although the Hawk’s life-of- type has since been extended from the initial planned with- drawal date of 2026 through to 2032, and possibly beyond.
The T-7 is based on the Boeing-Saab T-7A Red Hawk which has already been selected by the United States Air Force (USAF) to replace its ageing fleet of Northrop T-38 Talon aircraft. The USAF will acquire 351 T-7As under the TX program, with the Engineering and Manufacturing De- velopment (EMD) phase of the program now underway.
“We’re going to deliver the first five EMD jets to the US Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base this summer, and they’re going to begin testing,” Donn Yates, T-7 Redhawk Business Development for Boeing confirmed in a briefing and simulator demonstration to media. “The thing to re- member about that is we’ve already done 450 test flights with the PRJs (production representative jets) before we even started the EMD for the Air Force, so we think we’re in a good spot as we head into that.”
Boeing also addressed the alleged deficiencies with the T-7A Red Hawk’s ejection system which resulted in delays in the delivery of the US program.
“We’re working to re-baseline the schedule right now,” Yates said. “We will be at a milestone seat in summer of 2024. It is not the seat; it is the canopy fracturing system. We now for the first time have an agreement on the data between the Air Force and Boeing – that’s recent as of 2 to 3 weeks ago – so progress is being made more so now.”
In response to ADM’s questions on whether Boeing is al- ready informed on the guideline requirements for Air 6002 Phase 1, Yates confirmed: “Absolutely, yes. We’ve had dis- cussions with the RAAF.”
RAFAEL PROPOSES TAMIR FOR LAND 19/7B
Israeli defence company Rafael is offering its Tamir missile as a lower cost option for Australia’s NASAMS air defence system.
NIGEL PITTAWAY NIGEL PITTAWAY