Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates

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downunderblue

New Member
Going Boeing said:
It appears that Anduril is developing quite a close relationship with the ADF
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Anduril seems to be the SpaceX of the US Defense Industry with Palmer Luckey clearly taking the Elon mantle.

Only last week he was on Bloomberg (see below ) announcing the Baracuda-M range of cruise missiles stating it "is the most producible cruise missile on the market today: 50 percent less time to produce, 95 percent fewer tools, 50 percent fewer parts—at a fraction of the cost”.

It's amazing how far they have come in a really short space of time. Have a listen to Luckey speak. He seems to have real conviction. I especially like the brashness of this comment: "I don't think the U.S. needs to be the world police. It needs to be the world's gun store".

Assume they could help along the GWEO?

Does anyone want to dare him on Twitter? 500 cruise missiles in 6 weeks or for free, anyone?

 
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hauritz

Well-Known Member
Going Boeing said:
It appears that Anduril is developing quite a close relationship with the ADF, This new contract for the defence of RAAF Darwin is quite a development and I’m sure that the public domain won’t get any information about how the system works.

Anduril Signs 3 Year Contract with RAAF to Deliver Autonomou

It would be even more effective if this capability includes the port area as well.
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Anduril does indeed seem to be developing a close relationship with the ADF. First of all AUVs for the navy and now this.

Boeing probably needs to cast a wary eye towards Anduril. Their UCAV design was downselected by the USAF for the Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program ahead of the Ghostbat. At the same time Boeing says it refuses to commit to fixed price contracts because there is no money in it. On the otherhand Anduril policy is that air defence must be smarter, more affordable, and reusable which seems much more in synch with the DSR philosophy.

Other budget concious products they offer are rocket motors, Barracuda missiles and of course various UCAVs. Most of which would be of interest to the ADF.
 
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ADMk2

Just a bloke
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Todjaeger said:
A key difference being that the US has a sensing footprint, including satellite constellations, that is significant and AFAIK considerably greater than what Australia can manage on it's own. Between the coverage likely available, as well as time, IMO it is quite likely that the US either already has a list of potential targets/locations and their strike priority, or could at least put one together fairly quickly. Australia OTOH would likely have to rely upon the US for such information, or perhaps just the list itself.

A potential downside to relying upon others for such intelligence might be that the focus from the American perspective might be different than what Australia might wish to focus upon, and could therefore not pass something which would have been important to Australia.

Now I am not stating that Australia should not get a strike capability like the JASSM-XR might provide, I am just leery Australia devoting the coin and resources establishing a strike capability that is largely or perhaps entirely dependent on outside (i.e. non-Australian) capabilities to function.
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Apart from Wedgetail, JORN, other terrestial radar capability, Triton, MC-55A, Growler, Collins class, our space based ISR capability, UAS based wide area surveillance and targetting capability, the Australian Geospatial Intelligence Enterprise, Defence Intelligence Agency ASD, ASIS as well as coalition feeds, we haven’t really got any long range ISR and targetting capabilities and therefore such missiles are a waste of time…

Really?

I think some reading is overdue…


www.defenceconnect.com.au

Enabling, force-multiplying capabilities: The glue holding the ‘integrated, focused force’ together

The modern era of warfare requires increasingly complex “enabling” capabilities that serve as the “connective tissues”, allowing the Australian Defence Force to deliver combat power across the domains. Getting them right will be critical and, in some ways, they’re the unsung heroes of the...
www.defenceconnect.com.au www.defenceconnect.com.au

defense.info

Australian Defence Force Embraces Long-range Fires | Defense.info

It’s a fact: in any conflict the fighter with the longer reach has a definite advantage. The Australian Defence Force is trying to create that advantage for itself by spending up to $27 billion on 12 new families of long-range missiles between now and 2034 and investing another $21 billion in...
defense.info defense.info

However this isn’t to state that evening is fine and dandy and nothing more needs to be done on this front. On the contrary the Defence Targetting Enterprise announced under DSR was done deliberately with a view to improving defence capability to support long range strikes as our overall capability improves and was funded to the tune of $7.6b, so clearly neither ADF nor Government are unaware of the requirement to support such capabilities, but writing it off as “leaving it to others” is a very interesting take, given the above realities…
 
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ADMk2

Just a bloke
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Bob53 said:
The thing with a lot of fixed targets is that they are fixed and we know where they are already without too much help….ports, airfields, rail terminals satellite imaging is available in almost real time particularly if the US is assisting. .
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Google Earth can find them, so long as ADF remembers to pay it’s monthly subscription…
 
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Stampede

Well-Known Member
Severely said:
Australian innovation just keeps surprising me. From first hearing about Bae Strix to this.
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Strix is certainly a very interesting aircraft.

A dead end concept, or a revolution in design with a bright future???
Time will tell.
Somehow I have a feeling this unique aircraft has a big future.
If true, I can envisage this concept evolving into different sizes both smaller and larger than the original.

Fingers crossed.

Cheers S
 
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Bob53

Well-Known Member
Stampede said:
Strix is certainly a very interesting aircraft.

A dead end concept, or a revolution in design with a bright future???
Time will tell.
Somehow I have a feeling this unique aircraft has a big future.
If true, I can envisage this concept evolving into different sizes both smaller and larger than the original.

Fingers crossed.

Cheers S
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What’s interesting to me is the change from hover to vertical flight has no moving parts (to fail). Looks like it’s controlled by pitch and power variation between the engines. Interesting. Certainly won’t be stealthy though.
 
StevoJH

StevoJH

The Bunker Group
Oberon said:
Has Australia ever used its KC30 for evacuation flights? I’ve only ever heard of them using C130s
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Evacuation flights from where?

C-17 is probably a much more robust platform for evacuation flights. Especially if you aren’t 100% confident on the status of the runways and taxiways.

From memory the most recent evacuation flights have been from secure enough area’s that Qantas charter’s have been sufficient.
 
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