Page 53 - Williams Foundation Future of Electronic Warfare Seminar

A New Approach and Attitude to Electronic Warfare in Australia

"There is no need for all our capabilities to be fully connected to each other, there are levels of connectivity
that will suffice. especially initially We must prioritise and identify what we ‘should’ do, and to what level,
vice embark on a program of doing what we ‘can’ do.

"A component of the RAAF Project Jericho involves this kind of thinking and is looking at our Air, Maritime and
land capabilities, determining the art of the possible with respect to connectivity, and then suggesting levels
and priorities that should be pursued.

"This also includes components in the virtual and constructive areas such that we can also train more effectively
in the joint arena.

"Improving our training capacity by complementing live training with virtual and constructive is vital, especially
where availability of the scarce live resources necessary to generate a complex training scenario are limited,
and security restrictions could inhibit operating live at appropriate levels."

Question: You have done a lot of worked to shape a fifth-generation enabled force, prior to the F-35
showing up.

How will the F-35 fit into that evolving effort?

Air Commodore Kitcher: "The F35 introduction's is catalyst for significant change.
"Although the jets don’t arrive in Australia until the end of 2018, and IOC is not until the end of 2020, believe
me, we are right in the middle of introducing the F-35A into service.

"In addition to personnel we have embedded in the overall F-35 program in the US, we have two RAAF
aircraft and four instructors at Luke AFB. Our first cadre of dedicated F-35 maintainers and engineers
departs for the US in Jan 17, and will be gaining the necessary experience so we can operate the F-35 in
Australia from the end of 2018.

"Operating the F-35 will be one thing, but we also need to be able to sustain it, and the methods of sustaining
the F-35 are also different to older platforms.

"We have been planning for a while now, and these plans will continue to evolve, but I’m not sure our system
fully understands that this significant transition is well and truly underway.

"You can keep flying legacy aircraft forever if you want to spend enough money on them, but they all reach
a point where they will become capability irrelevant.

"Our Classsic Hornets are doing a great job in the Middle East right now, and due to the raft of Hornet
upgrades we have completed, remain amongst the most capable Classic Hornets anywhere.

"However, they will reach a point in the near future, especially in the higher end fight, where their utility will
be significantly diminished.

"The F-35 brings 5th generation qualities which will allow for a significant expansion across a raft of ADF
capabilities. Air Maritime, Land and most importantly joint.
"We've chosen, and we have structured it such that the Classic Hornet will run out of effective hours and
fatigue life at the point not too far after when the F35 is being introduced. There is contingency of course but
not a lot. We don't have the luxury simply to reflect abstractly on this problem anymore, we're in the middle
of solving it.

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