Page 34 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 21

34 AIR POWER OVERVIEW
FEBRUARY – MARCH 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
One aircraft, along with an RAAF King Air 350 and the Navy’s Armidale class patrol boat HMAS Maryborough, also deployed to the south-west Pacific in May 2020 in support of an international operation to detect and deter illegal, un- regulated and unreported fishing activity (IUU).
project is now more than three years late when compared with the original date, and over a year beyond the revised date of December 2019.
The ANAO report states that Air Force had undertaken to review the capability requirement and advise Govern- ment of a revised FOC definition and date no later than December 2020.
“C-27J Final Operating Capability was not achieved in December 2019 due to challenges and complications with completing the full scope of the original capability acquisi- tion,” commented the Defence spokesperson. “As highlight- ed in the recent ANAO report into major projects, Air Force conducted a review of the C-27J Spartan throughout 2020. This whole-of-capability review assessed FOC in terms of overall project affordability, schedule, technical risk, deliv- ered and residual capability, impact to industry, supportabil- ity and reputation.”
According to the report, some requirements are now ex- pected to be delivered after FOC approval, including some training equipment, aircraft upgrades, the C-27J Structural
ABOVE: A G-Wagon is unloaded from No. 35 Squadron C-27J Spartan A34-007 at Macrossan Airfield during an Exercise Ready Spartan Prove sortie.
In September 2020 the C-27J participated in Exercise Ready Spartan Prove, operating from austere airfields around Townsville, including the establishment of deployed air base infrastructure at Ben- ning and Macrossan airfields, testing agile basing operations. However, after five years in service the C-27J has not yet achieved Final Operational Ca- pability (FOC), despite two at- tempts so far. The Spartan was acquired under Air 8000 Phase 2 (Battlefield Airlift – Cari- bou Replacement) and the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) Major Projects Report 2019-20 notes there are still ‘residual activities’ outstanding, including fitment and cer- tification of IFF Mode 5 across the fleet and remediation of
the Missile Approach and Warning System (MAWS).
Air 8000/2 achieved Second Pass approval in April 2012 and at that time, FOC was scheduled to occur in 2017. The
“AUSTRALIA HAS
A REQUIREMENT FOR
72 F-35AS AND 33 AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN DELIVERED BY THE END OF 2020.”
DEFENCE