Page 42 - Williams Foundation Future of Electronic Warfare Seminar

A New Approach and Attitude to Electronic Warfare in Australia

“Australia has air battlespace managers from No. 2 Squadron and No. 41 Wing who are controlling the Red
Flag airspace, and getting first-hand experience how these capabilities can be employed.

“We’re getting real insight into understanding the capabilities and what Australia’s future is going to look like.”

http://australianaviation.com.au/2017/02/exercise-red-flag-2017-concludes/

Question: I think Red Flag 17-1 is a good example of how we collectively are shaping a way ahead.

In effect, we are seeing the training of a network of operators who can shape high intensity air
operations under the impact of fifth generation warfighting concepts.
The technology is crucial; the platforms are important; but it is the training towards where we need to go
that is crucial, rather than simply training to the past.

Is that not where your experience with Wedgetail and working with allies comes in?

Group Captain Bellingham: That is a good way to set up the discussion.

I think the strength of everything we're doing at the moment only comes from a strong cooperation with our
allies. Obviously, we're a tiny force, and our relevance and real strength becomes fully apparent when we tie
our capabilities with those of our allies.

At Red Flag 17-1, we saw the US, the UK and Australia blending advanced assets together to make the
entire force more lethal and survivable in the high end threat environment.

Question: The F-35 plays a key role in shaping the battlespace and target identification for other air
assets.

What is the Wedgetail’s role in that context?

Group Captain Bellingham: As we evolve the capabilities of Wedgetail, we see key roles it can play as a
quarterback in a high-end fight.

And as we upgrade the software and hardware capabilities, it is only by interacting with the other assets in
that air combat environment that we can truly evolve new ways of doing things.

It's not just we've updated the software and now we've got a great radar. That's a continuous process, and
every time we go to these exercises and go, "You know, that was kind of neat. How do we make that
repeatable, and how do we embed that in our doctrine and TTPs?"
Our true strength comes from multiple nations working together and blending their capabilities for the fight,
because it is simply very difficult for any one nation to fund and deploy all the high-end capabilities we need.

Our Wedgetail contribution can be seen in this light.

Question: Let us return to the concept of shaping a network of operators for 21st century high-end
operations.
How do we best get this done?

Group Captain Bellingham: It is about deploying your new assets, and learning how to use them in an
interactive context.

Second Line of Defense

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