Page 50 - Australian Defence Magazine March-April 2022

50 AIRPOWER
MARCH-APRIL 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
NEXT AIRCREW TRAINING COMPETITION KICKS OFF
The next phase of the Air 5428 aircrew training program has begun, with industry teams now vying to supply a Future Air Mission Training System (F-AMTS) under Air 5428 Phase 3.
NIGEL PITTAWAY | SINGAPORE
WHILE the earlier phases of the overarching Air 5428 program dealt with pilot training, Air 5428 Phase 3 will seek to up- date the training of eight and possibly nine different work- streams, including Air Battle Managers (ABMs), Air Com- bat Officers (ACOs), Tactical Co-ordinators (TACCOs) and the like. ADM understands a ninth stream – the training of Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS) operators – may also be included in the mix.
AIR 5428 PHASE 3 DESCRIBED
In early February, Defence’s Capability Acquisition and Sus- tainment Group (CASG) issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) to industry, with an industry briefing to follow on 11 April.
The EOI is seeking ‘suitably qualified contractors’ with the capacity to provide products and services to the project, which will deliver the F-AMTS, which in turn will accom- modate Weapons Employment Course (WEC) training and replace the existing training system currently performed by the Air Mission Training School and School of Air Traffic Control (SATC) at RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria.
“Current and future training will remain modern via con- temporary training methodologies in the ground and airborne environments,” the EOI states. “It will utilise the most appro-
priate and up to date training methods and tools to produce candidates to meet future ADF needs until at least 2047.”
The projected F-AMTS will have four elements: Ground Training Environment (GTE), Airborne Training Element (ATE), Integrated Learning Environment (ILE) and Learn- ing Materials.
The Airborne element of training is currently conducted on the Beechcraft Super King Air 350 aircraft, which are leased from Jet Aviation (formerly Hawker Pacific).
TEAM AUSTRINGER
The first industry team out of the blocks was Team AUS- tringer led by CAE Australia, last November. At the time of its announcement, Team AUStringer comprised of just CAE Australia and Cobham Aviation Services, but Nova Systems announced it had joined on 4 February this year.
“Cobham has proven performance in their border surveil- lance contract and I think it would be fair to say that they have the highest numbers of operational non-pilot aircrew out of any organisation in Australia outside the ADF. Their skillsets are uniquely matched for what we expect the Air 5428/3 requirements will be and they have a proven repu- tation as Air Operators Certificate (AOC) requirements compliant with Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) requirements,” said CAE Australia’s Managing Director Indo-Pacific Mat Sibree.
“We bring a wealth of experience in Mission Aviator training and unique training system integration expertise to the team, we’re now in our second decade of maintain- ing many of the ADF’s aerospace simulators and many of those training centres have been vertically evolved to be more than just maintaining training devices – we deliver
LEFT: Nova Systems will provide Team AUStringer with professional and engineering services leveraging its experience with Air 5428 Phase 1
ABOVE RIGHT: Lockheed Martin Australia has recently completed the acquisition phase of the earlier Air 5428 Phase 1 program, based on the Pilatus PC21 platform
NOVA SYSTEMS