Page 10 - Australian Defence Mag Sep 2020

10 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
SEPTEMBER 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
BDA COMPLETES LAST HORNET DEEPER MAINTENANCE ACTIVITY
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
WHEN Hornet A21-43 ceremonially rolled out of Boeing Defence Australia’s facility at Williamtown on July 9, it marked the end of Classic Hornet deeper level mainte- nance work for the RAAF.
The planned withdrawal date for the RAAF’s Classic Hornet is December 2021 and the final deeper level maintenance ac- tivity was the 163rd carried out on the RAAF Hornet fleet since 2013. According to BDA director of Sustainment Operations, Amy List, the work has sustained 150 jobs in the Hunter region and contributed $200 million to the national economy over that time.
But the departure of A21-43 doesn’t mean the end of Classic Hornet main- tenance at Williamtown, as the BDA workforce continues to provide line main- tenance support for 81 Wing’s flying op- erations, and it is also preparing aircraft for disposal within Australia and overseas.
“The hangar is still full of aircraft, there’s still plenty of work going on associated with the disposals, we have a number of aircraft that we continue to prepare for the Royal Canadian Air Force and there are eight air- craft we’re preparing for heritage displays around the nation,” List explained.
“And then there are some other aircraft to get ready for commercial sale and the other disposal activities that the Com- monwealth is arranging, so the team has plenty of work on the horizon.”
Between 18 and 25 Hornets will go to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and at least four have already left Williamtown.
“The work we are doing for Canada is to ensure the aircraft has sufficient life
on it, so there’s a bit of scheduled mainte- nance and preventative maintenance work, to make sure each aircraft is operational when it arrives,” List said.
Other than the maintenance work, each aircraft is dismantled and packaged for transportation to Canada via RCAF C-17A aircraft and List says the BDA facility has “more than a years’ work,” to prepare air- craft for Canada alone.
The Commonwealth Government is also negotiating the sale of ‘up to 46’ Hornets
LEFT: Between 18 and 25 Hornets will go to the Royal Canadian Air Force.
to US air training company Air USA, with the final number depending upon how many aircraft Canada eventually takes and at least the first of these aircraft is un- derstood to be on the floor of the BDA fa- cility at Williamtown at the present time.
BDA is also preparing eight Hornets for Heritage display purposes around Austra- lia, including one with will be delivered to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra before the end of the year.
In February, ADM reported that Malaysia will send the first two of up to eight of its F/A-18D Hornets to Williamtown for major overhaul by BDA. The deeper level mainte- nance activities were originally due to begin in April, and while the first aircraft have not yet arrived, regional work is understood to form a key plank in BDA’s future strategy, extending the company’s ‘Classic’ Hornet work for another two or three years.
FIRST PATROL BOAT KEEL LAID
THE first keel of six new Cape Class Patrol Boats has been laid.
The vessels are being built by Austal at Henderson, which will grow the patrol boat force to 16 vessels, while the new larger Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Ves- sels are introduced into service.
“The six new Cape Class Patrol Boats will be built with a number of enhance- ments, improving operational capability and crew capacity compared to the vessels
already operated by both the Navy and the Australian Border Force,” Minis- ter for Defence Linda Reynolds said.
“They will replace the Armidale Class and be utilised by the Navy as an in- terim patrol platform until the commis- sioning of the Offshore Patrol Vessels.”
“The laying of the keel not only initi- ates the formal construction phase of the build, it also means job creation here in Perth is well underway,” Minister for De- fence Industry Melissa Price said. “The
construction of these boats will provide work for 400 of Austal’s commercial shipbuilders in WA, as well as more than 1,200 workers in the broader Australian supply chain.”
The first of these new vessels are sched- uled for acceptance and handover to Navy in September 2021, with subsequent vessels being delivered through to March 2023.
ABOVE LEFT: Minister for Defence Industry Mellissa Price at the Austal yards in WA.
AUSTAL
NIGEL PITTAWAY