Page 72 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 2023

72 AIRPOWER
PILOT TRAINING SYSTEM
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
NIGEL PITTAWAY
LEFT: The Pilatus PC-21 is also flown by the RAAF’s ‘Roulettes’ aerobatic team
BELOW: Air 5428 Phase 1 (Pilot Training System) was delivered by Team 21, a consortium comprising Lockheed Martin Australia, Pilatus and Jet Aviation (formerly Hawker Pacific)
“The Air 5428 suite of projects are delivering a contem- porary aircrew training capability for the ADF for pilot and mission training,” a Defence spokesperson told ADM. “The pilot training system is designed to provide next generation training on an advanced airborne platform with modern avionics, systems and capability that prepare candidates to a requisite level of knowledge, skills and attributes to prog- ress to follow-on training on all ADF aircraft types.
“Defence will continuously improve the pilot training system in line with emerging training requirements and technologies.”
The PTS now allows RAAF to train a greater number of candidates to a higher standard; differentiate between the learning rates of candidates; and more efficiently screen candidates at the outset to gauge their ability to pass the training course, for which RAAF used data sets from the Royal Air Force.
In addition, the new PC-21 aircraft contain an advanced avionics suite that reflects modern navigation, autopilot as standard, adjustments to information displays in tandem cock- pits, and the ability to ramp up the complexity of displayed information according to different stages of student training.
However, as recently reported in ADM, Defence is now seeking to replace the PC-21 in its capacity to train Joint Terminal Attack Controllers with an off-the-shelf aircraft. Four aircraft are used in this role at RAAF Base William- town, though Defence says they are only ’80 per cent’ effec- tive as they are unable to carry live ordnance.
Pilot Training System (PTS), which included facilities, in- frastructure and airfield works to support the introduction of the PC-21.
These works, worth $1.2 billion, predominantly occurred at Central Flying School and No. 1 Flying Training School at RAAF East Sale in Victoria, No. 2 Flying Training School at RAAF Pearce, and at RAAF Gingin in WA, and involved new flight line shelters, aprons and taxiways, stor- age hangers, classrooms, seven flight simulators, and more.
The PTS experienced initial delays, reportedly due to inaccuracies and visual standards in the simulators. Lock- heed Martin Australia, CASG and AFTG ran a collabora- tive effort to get the program back on track before initial operating capability (IOC) was declared in July 2020. Lockheed Martin Australia confirmed the system had been fully delivered in February 2022, by which time it had
NIGEL PITTAWAY
“UNDER THE PROGRAM, 49 PILATUS PC-21 AIRCRAFT WERE DELIVERED BETWEEN JUNE 2017 AND DECEMBER 2019”
graduated 35 Air Force, 11 Navy and 27 Army pilots.
To complete the Air 5428 ac- quisition phase, Lockheed Martin Australia and its industry team said they undertook an inten- sive six-month assessment that involved: performing over 3,500 flight simulator and 10,000 air- craft flying events; achieving a greater than 97 per cent mission
success scorecard for all events against the contract’s pro- gram performance metrics; and achieving 100 per cent suc- cess for ground school contracted performance measures.
“Lockheed Martin Australia was immensely proud of the program outcome," Steve Froelich, then-Vice President of Rotary and Mission Systems Operations for Lockheed Martin Australia, said at the time.
“Team 21 has maintained greater than 97 per cent mis- sion success scorecard for all events against the contract’s program performance metrics but continues to work close- ly with Defence to continuously improve the performance of the Pilot Training System,” a Lockheed Martin spokes- person said to ADM.