Page 32 - Australian Defence Magazine Oct 2020

32 HELICOPTERS BATTLEFIELD AVIATION
OCTOBER 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
“The CH-47F Chinook is a very capable, reliable and cost effective aircraft for Army. It is a fantastic workhorse which has a strong history of supporting our communities in times of need, most notably in the recent bushfires. It has been a mainstay of our Army’s aviation fleet for many years and will remain in service for decades to come.
“Increasing the fleet size for the Army needs to be evalu- ated against the overall strategy for Battlefield lift to ensure we get the right mix of the types and numbers of aircraft while remaining within budget requirements. The suitabil- ity of ADF aircraft fleet sizes are reviewed consistently to provide best effect for Government,” BRIG Fenwick said.
quirement of a capability that operates in future complex environments. Defence is currently developing options for the replacement project, which will be considered by Gov- ernment later in the year.
“The ARH-Tiger and MRH-90 fleets were purchased by Defence while the aircraft were still in development,” BRIG Fenwick said. “This exposed Army to cost of ownership risk and induced risk in capability outcomes.
“Defence has navigated a number of issues with the man- ufacturer of these aircraft, including slow development and complex supply chain, which has caused additional cost and effort to sustain and operate the fleets.
“Thanks to the efforts of our dedicated teams, there have been some notable high points, including the ARH-Tiger’s recent deployment on HMAS Canberra to Regional Pres- ence Deployment 2020.”
The MRH90 Taipan, in service with both the Army and Navy, has also had its fair share of issues. Again, the feed- back on this platform is truly mixed. ADM has had trouble ascertaining the true performance factors of the aircraft as many viewpoints are based on a mixture of opinion, past ex- perience and data at different times. At the moment, pilots seems to love it on balance, those in the back are a mixed bag of love/hate and comparisons with a Black Hawk, and the maintainers always have something to do.
“In the case of MRH-90, given its larger fleet size, it has a disproportionate effect on the remainder of the Battlefield Aviation capability,” BRIG Fenwick said. “MRH-90 has not delivered the availability and rate of effort we have contracted for, and it is expensive to operate.
“Army continues to work with the manufacturers, sup- ply chain providers and Australian and Defence industry to seek improved operational capability, reduced cost of own- ership and improved Australian industry content.”
SPECIAL FORCES HELICOPTERS
Project Land 2097-4 Special Operations Rotary Wing (SORW) will acquire a new simple, proven and reliable commercial off-the-shelf or military off-the-shelf helicop- ter for Special Operations, according to Defence. In terms of size, it will be optimised for dense urban environments, complement the existing MRH-90 which has now moved into Special Forces Service alongside the Black Hawk which is being transitioned out. It will allow the Govern- ment and Defence to craft a variety of response packages depending on the situation.
“Army is keenly interested in the technologies and future opportunities for Australian Industry that programs, such as the Land 2097-4 Capability Enhancement Program, seek to deliver,” BRIG Fenwick said. “This program is a some- what novel approach to capability investment, as Army avia- tion projects have predominately been through prime con- tractor delivery mechanisms. Moving forward, Army seeks to outpace our adversaries through rapid enhancements and upgrades, and this may be best delivered by an alternate contracting approach.”
ADM understands that four bids went into the box ear- lier this year; two based on the Bell 429 (led by Babcock Australia and Hawker Pacific) and two based on the Airbus
“THE KEY PROGRAM DESIGN PRINCIPLES UNDER THE BATTLEFIELD AVIATION PROGRAM ARE TO SEEK PROVEN AND MATURE CAPABILITIES, WITH ROBUST AND WELL- UNDERSTOOD SUPPLY CHAINS.”
TIGER AND TAIPAN
The troubled children in the family are well known to many readers; Tiger and Taipan. Both have had their ups and downs during their introduction into service and now in operations. The reasons behind these issues are well known and documented over the years. Gains have been made on many fronts when it comes to reliability, spares, cost per hour of flying but there are still substantial issues to be addressed.
The 2016 White Paper, 2020 Defence Strategic Update and Force Structure Review have confirmed that the Tiger fleet will be replaced. A Tiger upgrade or enhancement is all but dead within Defence. Disposal plans for the ARH- Tiger will not be finalised until a replacement platform is chosen, and Army gains a better understanding of subse- quent timeline for ARH-Tiger withdrawal from service, ac- cording to Defence.
“As confirmed in the Defence Strategic Update 2020, the Australian Government will operate the ARH-Tiger until it is replaced by a crewed Armed Reconnaissance capability in the mid-2020s,” BRIG Fenwick confirmed to ADM. “Army has learned a lot about operating an Armed Reconnaissance capability in the past two decades, which includes the re-