Page 61 - Williams Foundation Integrated Force Design Seminar

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

Once we have our school up and running, we’ll then look to transition our last two Classic Hornet squadrons,
which are 77 Squadron and then 75 Squadron.

The transition is quite aggressive with each of the squadrons transitioning from the classic Hornet to the F-35 in
a 12-month period.

When you look at other F-35 users and the stand-up rate for squadrons, they typically take around the 24-
month mark to convert a squadron.
Question: So you are looking to innovate with regard to the US approach, which means in turn that as
you learn how to shorten the process that learning approach could be available to the US or other allies
for that matter?

Wing Commander Bradley: There may be the opportunity to share our training processes and procedures
with other F-35 operators in the future, however that’s not our focus.

We will be concentrating our resources on the standup of 2 OCU and the generation of a training syllabus
that meets our requirements.

We will then shape and refine the process to ensure that the remaining squadrons can transition efficiently.

We face a major challenge in that we are not going to shut down a Hornet squadron and then set aside time
to transition; we have to keep the squadron operational while we transition to the new F-35 squadron.

That is a challenge, which we need to meet.

We have trained five pilots to date at Luke and our 6th, who is the first squadron commander for 3
Squadron, is just about to depart from Australia and start his training.

Wing Commander Darren Clare has both a Super Hornet and Classic Hornet background, and we have a mix
pilots who have flown both types in our first squadron construct.

Question: As you bring your first squadron and prepare for IOC, presumably you be flying in Australia
and different services will see the plane as well?

Wing Commander Bradley: That is right.

The first aircraft will arrive at the end of next year.

We will then have 2019 and 2020 to work towards Initial Operating Capability in Australia.
We will be putting the F-35 through its paces in the Australian environment.

Our overall verification and validation process will happen in that two-year period.

We’re basically examining every aspect of the F-35 system in the Australian environment and during that
time, we will be working with army and navy as well.

By the end of 2023, we aim to have all three F-35 squadrons online and operational as well as the training
school.

Question: How important is this transition for Australia?

Wing Commander Bradley: It is crucial.

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