Page 18 - Australian Defence Magazine May 2019

DEFENCE BUSINESS
LIFCAP
“In a fifth-generation context, do we actually need to go flying at that point, or is it virtual?”
who had to also ensure that training throughput continued at the same time, de- veloped the post-LIFCAP syllabus in-house.
The inclusion of an embedded radar emulator and datalink allows air-to-air combat training to be extended from the within visual range (WVR) to the beyond visual range (BVR) domain. Together with a (simulated) AMRAAM capability, this training is intended to reduce the cognitive load on a student when they get to the op- erational conversion phase of their training, flying the Super Hornet or F-35A.
Another big advantage of the post-LIF- CAP training system is the fidelity of the synthetic training aids and, in particular, the three FMSs. This allows training to be immersive, consistent and repeatable in the synthetic environment, better prepar- ing the student in the first instance and
reducing the burden on the live aircraft in the second.
The Hawk training syllabi will also be ad- justed to provide a seamless and continuous transition of students from the PC-21 to the Lead In Fighter role and this will con- tinue to be adjusted as future adjustments are made in turn to the basic and advanced flying training courses.
Beyond LIFCAP
What the Hawk LIFCAP program has also done is to buy RAAF time; time to work out what the next iteration of Lead- In Fighter should look like, or even if there should be one at all.
These future decisions will be informed by the experiences gained as both the PC- 21 PTS (under Air 5428) and the F-35A operational conversion training regimes
The handover ceremony marked an important milestone for both RAAF and BAE Systems Australia and UK.
gain maturity in the decade to come. It is also no doubt helpful from a budgetary per- spective, as projects in the Air domain will largely take a back-seat to shipbuilding pro- grams for the foreseeable future (see Budget coverage from P30 for more on this).
Speaking with ADM at the end of 2018, Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies explained the RAAF’s current thinking on the future of the Hawk in its post-LIF- CAP form.
“We absolutely need the Hawk and for a little while, we will have the luxury of not needing to make a decision on its replace- ment. Currently, the Hawk is going to the back end of the 2020s, so we would really not be having to make an extend Hawk/ replace Hawk/not have Hawk – the three real broad options – decision until the early to mid-2020s, somewhere in that bracket,” AIRMSHL Davies said to ADM.
“I think there are a number of nations already starting to explore that for us. We’ll know about PC-21 and its ability to be upgraded by then. We’ll also know whether Hawk is, in a resource sense, able to be extended. CASG, BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce will have to help us under- stand (that) if we did make a decision to extend it, what that would cost us. What we would have to do now to make that hap- pen? That’s another resource impact for us that will come into play.
“Or indeed, what’s the thing we don’t know about yet? In a fifth-generation con- text, do we actually need to go flying at that point, or is it virtual? I think with all of those, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to a deci- sion matrix in a 2018 mindset, when we can make a decision in 2024 – and six years in aviation is a long time.”
18 | May 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au
NIGEL PITTAWAY
NIGEL PITTAWAY