Page 94 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 2023

94 AIRPOWER RAAF TINDAL
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
delivered before the end of 2023, marking Final Opera- tional Capability (FOC) for the program.
The $1.8 billion Air 6000 Phase 2A/B - New Air Combat Capability Facilities Project is providing new and upgraded facilities and infrastructure to support the introduction of the F-35As at RAAF Base Williamtown in NSW and RAAF Base Tindal, with support facilities and infrastructure at Defence Establishment Myambat, NSW. All construction at Tindal as part of this project was completed in May 2021.
This included the construction of an F-35A operational precinct, including upgrades to on-base warehousing, pave- ment upgrades, countermeasures storage and preparation
ABOVE: Under the US Force Posture Initiative, RAAF Tindal will be able to support up to six US Air Force B-52H strategic bombers
The aircraft, which are being procured through a coop- erative program with the United States Navy, will be home based at Tindal, with operations headquartered at RAAF Base Edinburgh.
While work on construction of facilities to support the Tritons at Tindal and Edinburgh was originally planned to commence some time ago, the production pause an- nounced by the US Navy to their Triton program in early 2020 resulted in a delay to Defence proceeding to Public Works Committee (PWC) in March 2020.
“Uncertainty around the US Program in 2020 resulted in a decision to delay referral to the Public Works Committee, and facilities design was paused,” a Defence spokesperson told ADM in December 2022.
“The project was declared a Project of Interest in March 2020 due to the United States Navy announcing a poten- tial production funding reduction for its Triton Program,” the spokesperson continued. “The US Government has since restored funding over consecutive budgets and the program is on track to deliver all the capabilities required to meet Australia’s requirements. The program has since been removed from the Project of Interest list.”
Defence confirmed to ADM that Air 7000 Phase 1B re- ceived Parliamentary approval on 9 November 2022.
The design of infrastructure work is currently being finalised, with the RAAF Base Tindal component of the works currently the subject of a tender for a construction contractor, Defence confirmed. Construction is expected to commence in early 2023 and scheduled for completion by late 2025.
The facilities planned to support the Triton capability in- clude working accommodation, training facilities and mis- sion support facilities at RAAF Base Edinburgh, and aircraft hangars, maintenance and storage facilities, aircraft parking apron and connecting taxiway at RAAF Base Tindal. ■
NIGEL PITTAWAY
“DEFENCE CONFIRMED THAT AIR 7000 PHASE 1B RECEIVED PARLIAMENTARY APPROVAL ON 9 NOVEMBER 2022”
facilities and engineering infra- structure. Other work included a new headquarters building for 75 Squadron, an off-aircraft mainte- nance facility, detached training site and secure aircraft parking apron.
Defence confirmed to ADM in December 2022 that Air 6000 2A/2B is now completing a number of minor activities to finalise the project, including the completion of communi-
cation cabling and rectifying minor defect works.
The infrastructure works at Tindal under Air 6000 Phase 2A/B had already consumed $522m to June 2022,
with another $1.9m allocated in the 2022-2023 budget. The project is expected to be completed by mid-2023.
AIR 7000 PHASE 1B – TRITON
Further major infrastructure work at Tindal is expected to begin in early 2023 in support of the Northrop Grum- man MQ-4C Triton high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft, which will use Tindal as its forward operating location for intelligence, surveillance and recon- naissance (ISR) missions throughout the region.
Australia has approved the acquisition of three Tritons under Air 7000 Phase 1B, the first of which will arrive at RAAF Base Tindal in mid-2024. A decision on whether to order up to four more Tritons will be taken after reviewing the outcomes of the Defence Strategic Review.