Page 107 - Maritime Services and the Kill Web

The Maritime Services, the Allies and Shaping the Kill Web

It’s a partnership for the long term with cross learning on all sides.

Captain Braz noted that the Aussie Growlers were on track for IOC next year and that “6SQN took part in
Talisman Sabre, and they are busy baselining their operations to align with wider Air Combat Group and
82Wing standards.”

He underscored that the RAAF was focused on taking EW from a niche capability within the ADF to working
into a core competence within the integrated force.
“How we might drive this jet, and wider EW and cyber thinking, into the mainstream?

“Please note my use of the word drive. We need to take this thing and forcefully insert it into our daily
business.

“To let it drift or meander into some equilibrium would be a lost opportunity.

“It’s time to be bold.

“The arrival of F-35 in the next year or so is one prime opportunity, and one that will need bold leadership to
harness.

“The F-35 brings unprecedented EW capability, it can fight like no other fighter we have owned.

“Growler is an exceptional complementary capability and crossing personnel over between the teams will
bring amazing results.

Group Captain Braz at the Williams Foundation Seminar on Electronic Warfare, August 23, 2017
“A good friend of mine from the US Navy planted this idea in my mind some months ago and it has significant
merit.

“Setting up a Growler to F-35 exchange program won’t be easy, it won’t fit well into a transition plan and it
will challenge some outdated mindsets, but it will be a brave move that will put innovation into overdrive.

“It’s an example of the new thinking we need to reshape the way we fight air combat.”
Group Captain Graz then dealt in the rest of his presentation on the challenges as he saw them in managing
the way ahead.

First, there is the challenge of managing growth.

Growler is a low density, high demand asset. Shaping and managing a workforce and ensuring its integrated
beyond the platform is a significant challenge.
Second, Growler will operate under significant constraints in spectrum licensing and security.

Third, “Growler is part of the overall rethinking necessary with regard to targeting or rethinking with regard
to payloads for the RAAF operating as part of an integrated 21st century combat force.

“Growler is a flexible system, manned by expert crew.

“It takes the initiative whenever possible but is by design a flexible sense and respond asset that is at its best
when given significant latitude in targeting.

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