Page 50 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2021

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Recognising the overlap that modern platforms enjoy over their single-role pre- decessors, the RAAF began a command restructure that saw ‘traditional’ force ele- ments like the Strike and Reconnaissance Group (F-111) merged with the Tactical Fighter Group (Hornet) to form the Air Combat Group (ACG) in 2002.
With the increased overland surveil- lance role undertaken by the Orion fleet, the Maritime Patrol Group was merged with the ground-based surveillance and air traffic control radars and the nascent AEW&C squadron (which would later re- ceive Wedgetails) to become the Surveil- lance and Response Group (SRG).
By now, the value of network-centric oper-
ations was becoming apparent, and the ‘link-
ing’ of platforms with each other and with
surface and space-based assets to achieve the
‘information edge’ was high on the RAAF’s
agenda. This networking of assets took ‘multi-role’ to another level with RAAF aircraft able to ‘talk’ to Navy warships, other aircraft, space-based assets and troops on the ground.
The decade leading up to the RAAF’s centenary has seen the entry to service of a number of new aircraft platforms, ranging from front line combat aircraft to trainers.
The list is impressive: F-35A Lightning II fighter (2018); EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft (2017); C-27J Spartan tactical transport (2015); Airbus KC-30A tanker- transport (2011); P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine, anti- shipping, surveillance and intelligence gathering aircraft (2017); and PC-21 trainer (2018).
In the years immediately before that the RAAF also intro- duced to service the C-17 Globemaster III heavy transport (2006); E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft (2010); and F/A-18F Super Hornet multi-role strike fighter (2010). A significant addition to the fleet and a point- er to the future occurred in 2010 when the first of three IAI Heron UAVs were leased for operations in Afghanistan.
Significantly, the Super Hornet, Wedgetail, KC-30A and now in its final days of service, Hornet, have proven them-
selves on combat operations over Iraq and Syria, working seamlessly and highly successfully with Coalition forces.
The P-8A Poseidon recorded its first operational deploy- ment in 2019 when a single aircraft was sent to the Middle East for a month to join the US-led international maritime security Construct (IMSC) in the Gulf region to protect shipping passing through the area, following several inci- dents involving Iran.
Previously, a detachment of RAAF AP-3C Orions was deployed between 2003 and 2012, conducting maritime surveillance patrols over the Persian Gulf and North Ara- bian Sea in support of coalition warships and boarding par- ties. They also conducted extensive overland flights of Iraq on ISR missions and supporting counter-piracy operations in Somalia.
Still to come in terms of platforms are more P-8As; the Gulfstream MC-55A Peregrine intelligence, surveillance and electronic warfare aircraft based on the G550 long range corporate jet; and the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton high altitude and long endurance remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA) for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveil- lance duties. The General Atomics MQ-9B Skyguardian RPA is also to be acquired.
The result of these acquisitions and the operational phi- losophies which go with them is a Royal Australian Air Force which has equipment that can match any – and sur- pass the capabilities of most – of the world’s air arms. ■
ABOVE: Three signifi ant and successful aircraft in RAAF post-war service, between them covering nearly six decades of operation: Canberra (1951-82); Mirage (1954-88); and F-111 (1973-2010).
LEFT: After more than 37 years’ service, Australia’s most effective deterrent – the F-111 – was retired in late 2010 and replaced by the F/A-18F Super Hornet.
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