Page 27 - Williams Foundation Air-Sea Integration Seminar

Shaping an Integrated Force in the Extended Battlespace

FIGURE 12 PLATFORMS IN AN INFORMATION AGE MILITARY FORCE

Air Commodore Heap sees the platform as evolving in the integrated battlespace and underscored that how
Australia was acquiring the platform was central to how it could co-evolve with other key assets.
“With FMS, you are buying a car off of the showroom floor.
We did not do that here; we are partners in the program, which allows us to become de facto shareholders in
the program itself.
We are a cooperative development partner.
This puts the RAAF at the ongoing development table for the life of the program, to enable us to influence the
capabilities of the platform as it evolves, ensuring that we can get an evolved platform that meets our needs.
For example, we needed the aircraft to perform a search and rescue function, something the USN did not
have as a core role; they rely on the USCG.
But we needed a specialist payload to do this, and courtesy of the cooperative program, the USN has
agreed to have an interim capability, followed by a fully developed deployable SAR payload built into the
program as a priority. The USN as our partner is also interested in using the kit on occasions when long
distance maritime search is required.
The USN and your embedded RAAF instructors are currently flying Increment 1 but will Increment 2 will be the
version that we will get with the first aircraft. We will initially get a mix of Increment 1 and 2 aircraft, but will
be spirally upgraded to an all increment 2, then 3 fleet in lockstep with the USN.
We are deeply involved with the USN as well in designing and working Increment 3.
It is important to understand that what we are talking about is the actual evolution of the platform, and wider
weapon system over time, which from our point of view needs to work with Wedgetail, F-35, Growler, Triton,
the Air Warfare Destroyer, Special Forces and other core warfighting assets in the battlespace.”
He then went on to make a key point that with the USN is working very hard to integrate its core air assets,
the Super Hornet, the F-35, the Growlers, the P-8s and the Triton UAVs, to work together that this would
provide an important leg up on the kind of integration the ADF was looking for across the battlespace.
And of course, the SRG flies and operates systems which in the U.S. would be operated by either the USMC
or USAF, so this drives the RAAF need to broaden the aperture on integration beyond what classically the

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