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

[Redlands18]

I have been wondering over the last few days regarding the incident with our Hornet and the recent ejection as to whether there are any salvageable parts form the Growler we lost. ADF serials shows the fuselage cocooned with what appears to be an intact canopy and I assume dual seat cockpit. Could there not be any salvageable parts that would expedite the return to service of the Rhino currently without seats and canopy should all else be intact?

ADF-Serials Image Gallery :: EA-18G A46-311 :: Growler_A46_311_at_AMARG_February_2019_Photo_via_Bob_Maddern

www.adf-gallery.com.au

Hard to tell what the condition of the Growler Cockpit was but the fire got right up around and beneath the Cockpit so there maybe a lot of damage to the Cockpit from Heat, Smoke and Fire Retardant. Also with it happening in the US the wreck was probably sent to Boeing for a complete investigation and the RAAF may have never seen any usable parts anyway, maybe not even worth the cost of returning them to Australia.

 

[aussienscale]

Great news, Minister of Defence has just announced that the RAAF's F-35A's have been declared IOC and can now be deployed on operations !

Awesome to see this program continue to hit these milestones

https://www.facebook.com/LindaReynoldsWA/posts/3533941670035918

Cheers

 

[John Newman]

Great news, Minister of Defence has just announced that the RAAF's F-35A's have been declared IOC and can now be deployed on operations !

Awesome to see this program continue to hit these milestones

https://www.facebook.com/LindaReynoldsWA/posts/3533941670035918

Cheers

Yes it is great news

RAAF F-35A capability achieves IOC | ADBR

The Royal Australian Air Force has declared an initial operational capability (IOC) of its Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighter capability. Just two years after the first two F-35As arrived…

adbr.com.au

There are now 30 airframes here in Oz and another three in the US ready to be delivered too.

Another three from next years production lot and the fleet will be at the halfway mark.

 

[Stampede]

Yes it is great news

RAAF F-35A capability achieves IOC | ADBR

The Royal Australian Air Force has declared an initial operational capability (IOC) of its Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighter capability. Just two years after the first two F-35As arrived…

adbr.com.au

There are now 30 airframes here in Oz and another three in the US ready to be delivered too.

Another three from next years production lot and the fleet will be at the halfway mark.

Well done to 3 SQN and all those involved to make this this happen.
A great achievement in a tough year.


Regards S

 

[aussienscale]

Yes it is great news

RAAF F-35A capability achieves IOC | ADBR

The Royal Australian Air Force has declared an initial operational capability (IOC) of its Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighter capability. Just two years after the first two F-35As arrived…

adbr.com.au

There are now 30 airframes here in Oz and another three in the US ready to be delivered too.

Another three from next years production lot and the fleet will be at the halfway mark.

And as a side note, I live 30 minutes from Evans Head, travel past there 2-3 times a week for work, used to see Hornets and Supers all the time, and still yet to see my first one in real life ! and they have certainly been there often enough that I should have by now

Not happy Jan !!

 

[Boagrius]

And as a side note, I live 30 minutes from Evans Head, travel past there 2-3 times a week for work, used to see Hornets and Supers all the time, and still yet to see my first one in real life ! and they have certainly been there often enough that I should have by now

Not happy Jan !!

I've been by Williamtown a few times, and saw the F35 display at Avalon years back. Suffice it to say the F135 engine is a thing to behold.

 

[aussienscale]

And the Xmas and New Year cheer keeps coming for the RAAF with the Minister for Defence announcing this morning the approval for another 2 P-8A Poseidon's, which will bring the fleet to a total of 14 airframes, with this little tidbit as well

"The planned integration of the Long Range Anti-ship Missile (LRASM) into Air Force capability will also allow it to strike adversary surface vessels at significantly increased ranges"

Cheers

Two more P-8A Poseidon aircraft boosts maritime patrol capability | Department of Defence Ministers

Air Force’s maritime patrol capability will be boosted with Australia set to acquire two more P-8A Poseidon surveillance and response aircraft, bringing the total fleet size to 14.

www.minister.defence.gov.au

 

[John Newman]

And the Xmas and New Year cheer keeps coming for the RAAF with the Minister for Defence announcing this morning the approval for another 2 P-8A Poseidon's, which will bring the fleet to a total of 14 airframes,

Yes certainly more good news for the RAAF.

Australia orders two additional Boeing P-8A Poseidons | ADBR

The Commonwealth has announced that Australia will order an additional two Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime ISR and response aircraft for the RAAF. The two aircraft will add to the 12…

adbr.com.au

According to the ADBR article, the options on the additional three were due to expire end this year, two have been exercised, No’s 13 & 14, but it would appear, at this stage, that No 15 won’t be proceeded with.

Still, all in all, a good result for the RAAF.

For those that can remember back, the original plan to replace the AP-3C fleet was to be 8 P-8A and 7 Triton.

Cheers,

 

[Boagrius]

It makes you wonder what lies ahead for the Poseidon, as the US seems to be leveraging it pretty enthusiastically. The appearance of the AN/APS-149 and then the AN/APS-154 AAS caught my attention some time ago. Being a (rather large) AESA based system, you have to wonder whether its functionality might go beyond the detection of maritime targets to cruise missiles and EW/jamming as well. Speculation on my part obviously, but good to see this investment in a platform that clearly has a lot of support behind (and ahead of) it.

 

[John Newman]

"The planned integration of the Long Range Anti-ship Missile (LRASM) into Air Force capability will also allow it to strike adversary surface vessels at significantly increased ranges"

It was good to note the confirmation of integration of LRASM to the Poseidon fleet, whilst it had been assumed when the LRASM announcement was made mid year, that announcement specifically named Super Hornet only (and yes of course the USN had previously announced integration to their Poseidon fleet).

But there are still a couple of questions in my mind, will LRASM be integrated into the RAAF F-35A fleet for external carriage? I haven’t read anything specific if LRASM will be part of the Block 4 update or not? From what has been previously reported JSM will be integrated for F-35A aircraft (Norway and Japan have both on order), but we don’t currently have JSM in order.

The other question I have, will a long range land strike weapon be available to the RAAF when the last of the Classic Hornet fleet retires at the end of 2021? (We will loose their JASSM capability).

The obvious answer is LRASM, which also has a land strike capability, but when will it be operational for the RAAF? Will there be a capability gap?

And lastly, what happens to JASSM? Will they be junked?

Cheers,

 

[Bob53]

Yes certainly more good news for the RAAF.

Australia orders two additional Boeing P-8A Poseidons | ADBR

The Commonwealth has announced that Australia will order an additional two Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime ISR and response aircraft for the RAAF. The two aircraft will add to the 12…

adbr.com.au

According to the ADBR article, the options on the additional three were due to expire end this year, two have been exercised, No’s 13 & 14, but it would appear, at this stage, that No 15 won’t be proceeded with.

Still, all in all, a good result for the RAAF.

For those that can remember back, the original plan to replace the AP-3C fleet was to be 8 P-8A and 7 Triton.

Cheers,

I’m hoping this won’t be another case where the line closes down and we decide later that we might like a few more. Just opinion but with the capabilities the C17 has brought to the RAAF and the weight of the vehicles we are procuring,
I think if the C17 line was still running we might of got a slightly larger fleet.

 

[John Newman]

I’m hoping this won’t be another case where the line closes down and we decide later that we might like a few more. Just opinion but with the capabilities the C17 has brought to the RAAF and the weight of the vehicles we are procuring,
I think if the C17 line was still running we might of got a slightly larger fleet.

I don’t think it’s exactly the same as the C-17A line closure, Boeing did say it was shutting soon (no doubt to generate interest), and in the end the RAAF did get two of the last 10 ‘white tails’, would 10 RAAF C-17A been better than 8? Sure, still that was better than the original 4.

As for Poseidon, the line is definitely starting to wind down, the USN order is coming to an end, the Indian Navy is due another three next year, Norway, New Zealand and South Korea have 15 orders between them yet to be delivered, just over half of the RAF fleet is yet to be delivered and now the RAAF has ordered an additional two.

As for the RAAF, originally 8 were planned (plus 7 Triton), that became 8 + 4 options, that then became 12 + 3 options, and now 14 (plus 6 + 1 Triton).

More is always good, but even if that last ‘one’ never happens, we’ve gone from firm orders for 8 to 14, plus 6 + 1 Triton.

Pretty good result, in my opinion.

As for Poseidon production itself, I wouldn’t be surprised if the US Congress does the same as it did with the C-17A, as the line neared closure it added additional aircraft to keep the line open for a few extra years.

So even without any additional international orders there my still be a chance of the line being open to procure that extra ‘one’ for the RAAF.

Cheers,

 

[Bob53]

Good brief thanks John. How many Tritons are now planned for the RAAF as I thought the USN was possibly winding back their order. I haven’t seen match in the way of updates from this story. Triton Australia responds to USN MQ-4C Triton production freeze

 

[John Newman]

Good brief thanks John. How many Tritons are now planned for the RAAF as I thought the USN was possibly winding back their order. I haven’t seen match in the way of updates from this story. Triton Australia responds to USN MQ-4C Triton production freeze

Bob, if you re-read what I wrote above, the current RAAF Triton plan is 6 + 1, that’s 6 plus one option.

As at today, there are firm orders for three, I’d expect in the coming few years we will hear of the other three becoming firm orders (bringing the fleet to the planned six), and then there is the matter of exercising the option for the seventh.

Back in about 2013, the then Chief of Air Force said that the RAAF intended to operate the Poseidon and Triton fleets in the same 2 to 1 ratio as the USN, which is why the numbers of each type started to be changed.

If that holds true, then 14 Poseidon and 7 Triton, equals that 2 to 1 ratio.

As for the USN, I don’t thinks it so much they want to wind back orders, it more to do with a funding gap for the next year, which is also why the RAAF increased their current order from 1 to 3, keeps the production line kicking over.

Cheers,

 

[Bob53]

Thanks CCG a John wasn’t exactly following your + numbers but now understand.

 

[Stampede]

Bob, if you re-read what I wrote above, the current RAAF Triton plan is 6 + 1, that’s 6 plus one option.

As at today, there are firm orders for three, I’d expect in the coming few years we will hear of the other three becoming firm orders (bringing the fleet to the planned six), and then there is the matter of exercising the option for the seventh.

Back in about 2013, the then Chief of Air Force said that the RAAF intended to operate the Poseidon and Triton fleets in the same 2 to 1 ratio as the USN, which is why the numbers of each type started to be changed.

If that holds true, then 14 Poseidon and 7 Triton, equals that 2 to 1 ratio.

As for the USN, I don’t thinks it so much they want to wind back orders, it more to do with a funding gap for the next year, which is also why the RAAF increased their current order from 1 to 3, keeps the production line kicking over.

Cheers,

Not 15, but 14 P-8's are now locked in.
Certainly a better result than 12 and a significant margin compared to the original 8.
Good news
Trust the ratio 2 to 1 ratio pans out with Triton with seven locked in sooner rather than later.
Not sure how this program is playing out in the US so lets get in now.

Would be interested if New Zealand is tempted to push for an additional Poseidon.

Regards S

 

[hauritz]

The 2020 Defence Strategic Update didn't mention additional Poseidons so I am pretty glad that we ended up with at least two additional aircraft.
It did mention that the Government would review the future balance between the MQ-4C, P-8A and other capabilities which frankly I interpreted as meaning that there would possibly want additional Tritons at the expense of the three proposed Poseidons.

 

[Redlands18]

The 2020 Defence Strategic Update didn't mention additional Poseidons so I am pretty glad that we ended up with at least two additional aircraft.
It did mention that the Government would review the future balance between the MQ-4C, P-8A and other capabilities which frankly I interpreted as meaning that there would possibly want additional Tritons at the expense of the three proposed Poseidons.

I don’t know if i would get to carried away with Triton numbers at this stage, i think the Government is taking ISR very seriously at present and it would not surprise me to see a significant increase in numbers ordered in the years ahead, even if it comes at the expense of other capabilities.

 

[t68]

In regards to P8 once the options expire and if the Government wanted to order more do we still need approval from US congress under FMS and notification

 

[ngatimozart]

In regards to P8 once the options expire and if the Government wanted to order more do we still need approval from US congress under FMS and notification

Yes and even I believe even if they deal with Boeing direct. However I think that's really moot because Boeing apparently has called last orders. It would be nice if my own govt ordered another 1, even 2, but dreams are free until the taxman finds a way of taxing them.