Page 36 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 21

36 AIR POWER OVERVIEW
FEBRUARY – MARCH 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
Substantiation Program and the aforementioned remedia- tion of the MAWS capability.
A revised date had not been released as of mid-January 2021 when this article was being prepared.
JERICHO HERCULES – ENHANCEMENTS
TO THE C-130J-30 FLEET
The RAAF’s C-130J-30 Hercules airlifter has been the sub- ject of a number of capability enhancement steps funded under Project Jericho, aimed at providing enhanced con- nectivity and situational awareness for both crew and pas- sengers and decision makers on the ground.
In January 2020 for example, the ‘Jericho Demonstra- tor’ Hercules (A97-448) began flight trials with a Northrop Grumman AN/AAQ-28(v) Litening sensor pod, fitted to an underwing pylon. The Litening pods were originally ac- quired as targeting pods for the RAAF/s F/A-18A/B ‘classic’ Hornet and entered service in 2007. However, the Hornet has now entered its final year of operational service in Aus- tralia and as the fleet is gradually drawn down a number of pods are becoming surplus to requirements.
The Litening’s laser designation capability has been dis- abled on the pod fitted to the Jericho demonstrator Hercu- les however and the trials focussed on its ability to provide electro-optic and infra-red (EO/IR) video in day and night conditions. With the trial, the RAAF becomes just the sec-
ABOVE: F-35 Lightning II jets fly off the coast of Newcastle with a C27-J Spartan.
ond air force in the world to integrate the pod with the Her- cules, behind the US Arkansas Air National Guard (ANG). The trials were conducted by 37 Squadron at Richmond, operators of the RAAF’s 12 C-130J-30s, together with the Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) and the
Air Warfare Engineering Squadron.
If adopted by the fleet, the Litening capability will
provide enhanced situational awareness for both the flight crew and commanders on the ground, taken off- board the aircraft via a Wideband Satellite Communica- tions (SATCOM) system currently being rolled out to half the fleet.
The rollout of the Honeywell JetWave Ka-band SATCOM system began in May 2019, following successful trials with the capability undertaken by the Jericho demonstrator Hercules in 2017 and this work has continued throughout 2020. The sixth and final aircraft is scheduled to be com- pleted before the end of 2022.
“An upgrade to half the fleet provides the least impact to aircraft availability during the modification period whilst still providing a suitable capability,” the Defence spokes- person said.
A further capability enabled by the wideband SATCOM fit is the ability to control unmanned aerial systems (UAS) from within the Hercules’ cargo bay. A successful demon- stration of this capability was performed by 37 Sqn in June 2020, in conjunction with No.3 Security Forces Squadron (3 SECFOR) and Army. The trials were performed at RAAF Edinburgh and proved the ability to control a small UAS from an in-flight Hercules.
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