Page 6 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec21-Jan22

6 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
DECEMBER 2021-JANUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
RAAF’S MYSTERIOUS SURVEILLANCE MISSIONS FROM SINGAPORE
MIKE YEO | MELBOURNE
A RAAF Boeing P-8A Poseidon Multi-Mis- sion Aircraft has been flying what Defence calls “maritime surveillance” missions from Singapore since mid-October, with data from flight tracking websites suggesting these take place over the South China Sea.
This is the sixth deployment of RAAF aircraft to Paya Lebar airbase in Singa- pore since July 2020 and the first using the P-8A. Previous occasions have seen RAAF Lockheed-Martin AP-3C (EW) Orion In- telligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare (ISREW) aircraft being deployed, with each lasting approxi- mately one month.
Flight tracking data shows the P-8A, serialled A47-009, arriving in Singapore from RAAF Base Edinburgh via Darwin on the 18 October and flying missions out of Paya Lebar between two to five days a week from the 20th, using the callsign Aussie 206, 207, 208 or 209.
The missions usually last between seven to eight hours, with most of the missions starting off in the late morning local time and ending before sunset.
However there have been at least two missions that took place after dark as of thetimeofwriting,withoneofthesebe- ing an overnight 14-hour mission that started at 6.30pm on 11 November and ending at 8.30 the next morning.
The P-8 has been supported by a RAAF Airbus KC-30A tanker on at least some of its missions, with flight data showing a KC-30 tanker flying nine-hour missions that took it to the South China Sea off Brunei on the 5th, 8th and 11th of No- vember, at the same dates and roughly the same time as the P-8s. Data on earlier dates were not available.
The flight trackers also show the air- craft departing Paya Lebar northbound and flying up the east coast of peninsu- lar Malaysia before turning to the north- northeast towards the South China Sea on all the days it had been flying.
The P-8 would turn off its transponder upon leaving Malaysian airspace and turn it on again just before return. In contrast, the RAAF AP-3C (EW) Orions did not normally turn on the transponders during their missions when deployed to Singa- pore, although it was noted that their mis- sions lasted about 10 hours each.
Singapore’s Ministry of Defence told ADM that the RAAF is flying maritime surveillance missions from Singapore under the auspices of the Australia-Sin- gapore Comprehensive Strategic Partner- ship (CSP), which it says allows both mili- taries access to each other’s bases.
The CSP signed in 2016 also saw both countries agreeing to “enhance intelli- gence and information-sharing in areas of mutual interest.”
Defence told ADM that “maritime sur- veillance patrols are conducted by the ADF as part of its mission to protect Australia and its national interests, and to contrib- ute to regional security. These flights are conducted within Australian and interna- tional airspace. ADF aircraft operate from remote Australian airfields and from those of partner nations.”
The above was sent in response to a series of specific questions sent by ADM about the deployment, including why the missions were not flown with the P-8 deployed to Butterworth in Malaysia un- der Operation Gateway and why the AP- 3C(EW), which has a specific intelligence gathering mission set, was used for the Singapore missions.
NIGEL PITTAWAY