Page 102 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2021

102 AIRPOWER
NOVEMBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
“We need to burn enough fuel to be able to take on more because we departed Perth with full tanks,” FLTLT Huber said. “The KC-30A is a twin-engine aircraft and has other regulations and limitations around how far they can actu- ally travel from an airfield. So, it’s a balance between risk mitigation for the tanker aircraft against how much fuel we can on-load at that point in the flight.”
As captain, FLTLT Huber was responsible for manu- ally flying the C-17A for 15 minutes in line with the boom
Tasmanian company Elphinstone Engineering – which is teamed with Hanwha Defense Australia to manufacture vehicle hulls for the Redback infantry fighting vehicle un- der Land 400 Phase 3 – is building five 12.5 metre and 23 7.5 metre sleds for the expedition.
Whilst the traverse has been delayed by the AAD, the RAAF is ready to help deliver supplies to the expedition when it eventually moves across Antarctica.
“I was involved with the proof of concept and that air- drop would be very much the same,” FLTLT Huber said. “The delivery of cargo is via a method or via a system called
movement of the tanker aircraft, which he most taxing part of the operation.
“It was planned at 22 minutes but it took 15 minutes,” FLTLT Huber said. “But in training we don’t normally sit there plugged for 15 minutes. We can take a lot of gas very quickly, in the order of 7000 pounds per minute, however it was definitely one of the longer air refuelling missions we would enact.
describes as the
“THE AIRDROP IS VALUABLE EXPERIENCE AS THE AAD PREPARES FOR THE MILLION YEAR ICE CORE PROJECT”
the container delivery system – that’s just packed bundles with parachutes that fall out of the back of the aircraft on a pre-calculated point to land on the drop zone that has been communicated by the ground team.”
Although there are numerous chal- lenges in organising an airdrop to the most remote places on earth, the RAAF
“It’s fatiguing. We’re hand flying, it’s
night time, we’re out of sleep cycle, it’s a little bit bumpy, a little bit of weather around, all those sort of things. So, it’s quite fatiguing, but our training prepares us for that.”
The drop was made successfully in the dull Antarctic light, and the AAD expeditioners recovered the cargo from the drop zone in temperatures of -25 degrees centi- grade and strong winds while the Globemaster returned to Australia.
The complex and successful airdrop is valuable experi- ence as the AAD prepares for the Million Year Ice Core project: a plan for an Australian team to traverse the White Continent for the first time in decades, departing from Casey research station and travelling 1,100 kilometres to Little Dome C in east Antarctica, which is more than 3,200 metres above sea level. According to the AAD, the journey is expected to take two weeks at an assumed rate of 90 kilometres per day. The AAD will then construct a mobile inland station to allow scientists to drill more than three kilometres down into the Antarctic ice sheet.
crews flying south are rewarded with a view most people will never see: acres of sea ice, soaring rock features, and a long white coastline.
“It’s pretty surreal, how far away from civilisation you actually are,” FLTLT Huber said. “I was lucky enough that it was clear weather when I went down there last time. An hour out of Antarctica, you start to make out the ice, the ice cracks, the rock formations. At first it’s actually a lot less white than you think it is, with all those rock forma- tions, depending on the time of the year.
“Then when you’re over the continent itself, it becomes white, as far as the eye can see. It’s awesome.” ■
ABOVE: The air-to-air refuelling required FLTLT Huber to fly manually for 15 minutes.
ABOVE LEFT: Supplies on the ground at Wilkins Aerodrome, taken in 2020.
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