Page 51 - Williams Foundation Integrated Force Design Seminar

Designing the Integrated Force: How to Define and Meet the Challenge?

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During my visit to Amberley Airbase in Australia, I had a chance to talk with the 82 Wing Commander,
Group Captain Braz on April 3, 2017. The Wing had been reorganized to include both Super Hornets and
Growlers as the RAAF prepares for the fifth generation air combat transition.

Group Captain Braz has been in the RAAF for thirty years; originally he was an F-111 operator and then
transitioned to Super Hornet, which was the RAAF selection of the aircraft to transition from the legacy aircraft
(F-111) to the fifth generation aircraft (F-35). He was one of the pioneers in that transition (the first
commander of 1 Squadron when the Super Hornet came into the force) and now is part of the next one (as
the F-35 comes into the force). In addition to many other postings and duties, he served as the Growler
transition team leader in the RAAF headquarters for two years as well.
Question: Let us start with the challenge of transition. The Super Hornet was an important stimulus to
change in the RAAF going from the F-111 to the Super Hornet, going from the mechanical to the initial
digital age.

How disruptive was that transition?

Group Captain Braz: The Super Hornet was acquired to reduce risk with regard to our air combat transition.
We were operating the F-111, and we were the sole orphan operator of the F-111, an aging airframe with
declining relevance. We knew the F-35, the new generation was coming but with uncertain timelines. And we
had an aging classic Hornet fleet, which was starting to show more signs of its age.

We realized that there was an opportunity to acquire a bridging fighter, the Super Hornet. And by acquiring
this aircraft we began to address the security challenges associated with a data rich aircraft and to change
our security culture and engage in the new operational concepts that the Super Hornet enabled.

It had capabilities that we'd never had to deal with before or think about before. While they're not F-35s,
they do generate inputs in to rethinking about how to deal with the coming of the F-35.

The Super Hornet gave us that intellectual kick to think more broadly, and to adapt how we do things, and to
not be wedded to historic approaches with regard to operating concepts.

Question: How many Growlers are coming to Australia?

Group Captain Braz: We've got four in Australia right now. By the end of the week, we should have seven,
and we'll have all of them here by June. We will have 12 in all.

Question: The Growler is coming when much is in flux with the RAAF with the significant impact of
tanker and Wedgetail, and the coming of the F-35 as well P-8 to the force.

How does the coming of the Growler intersect with the broader changes for the RAAF?

Group Captain Braz: From an ADF force-wide point of view, there is a huge amount of change. That's both a
threat and an opportunity.

We've come to understand that we have to fight in the new information realm, and Growler allows you to do
that more effectively. Further, it changes how we are thinking about how we employ the existing capabilities
with the new capabilities. We're reshaping our technical and operational thinking to harness and to capture
what Growler can offer in the operational space.

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