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For the first time, U.S. Air Force F-16C aircraft have deployed to Exercise PITCH BLACK 16 (PB16) in partnership with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport.
On July 19, a RAAF KC-30A flew non-stop with six F-16Cs from Kadena Air Base, Japan to RAAF Base Darwin in just over six hours.
RAAF Group Captain (GPCAPT) Adam Williams, Officer Commanding of No. 86 Wing, said it was the first time that a RAAF air-to-air refuelling tanker deployed in support of U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft to Australia.
“The KC-30A conducted 35 contacts with the six F-16Cs, transferring a total of 55.8 tonnes of fuel to the F-16Cs, or nearly 70,000 litres,” GPCAPT Williams said. “The air-to-air refuelling boom on the KC-30A performed well, with no significant issues.”
United States Air Force F-16s on the flightline at RAAF Base Darwin during Exercise Pitch Black 2016. Pitch Black is a biennial multinational air warfare exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) that focuses on offensive counter air and defensive counter air combat in a simulated war environment. (Australian Defence Force photo by LSIS Jayson Tufrey)
“Despite some periods of moderate turbulence en route, they completed the 5,400-kilometre journey safely,” Williams said.
Return trips saw the KC-30A deploy a total of 12 F-16Cs with the 14th Fighter Squadron in the week prior to PB16.
Commander of the 14th FS, Lt. Col. Mark Heusinkveld, said the support provided by the KC-30A was a testament to the interoperability between partner nations at PB16.
“The refueling not only provides mutually beneficial training between U.S. and Australian air forces, but also demonstrates the close military ties between our nations,” Lt. Col. Mark Heusinkveld said.
“It’s always advantageous when training opportunities like these present themselves,” Heusinkveld added.
“This strengthening of our multilateral relationship will only continue as we train and improve our alliance capabilities in the upcoming weeks.”
The deployment builds on successful refuelling trials between the RAAF KC-30A and U.S. Air Force F-16s assigned to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., conducted in late 2015 and early 2016.
To refuel the F-16Cs, the RAAF KC-30A used its 18-metre-long Advanced Refuelling Boom System (ARBS), controlled by an Air Refuelling Operator in the KC-30A’s cockpit through the use of fly-by-wire controls and 3D Glasses.
As each F-16C flew in close formation behind the KC-30A, the ARBS would ‘plug’ into a fuel receptacle on the F-16C and commence refuelling.
GPCAPT Williams said the KC-30A would refuel U.S. Air Force F-16Cs during PB16, as well as the E-7A Wedgetail and F/A-18s participating in the exercise.
“This deployment is a significant milestone for the RAAF’s KC-30A, as it demonstrates our ability to refuel international F-16s within the Asia Pacific region as well as during operations further abroad,” said Williams. “This will further reinforce the close bonds between our Air Forces in the field of air-to-air refuelling.”
PB16 is scheduled from July 29-19 Aug, 2016, and is the RAAF Chief of Air Force’s biennial capstone international engagement activity with forces drawn from a wide range of regional, coalition and allied nations. PB16 allows participant nations to exercise deployed units in the tasking, planning and execution of Offensive Counter Air (OCA) and Offensive Air Support (OAS) while utilizing one of the largest training airspace areas in the world.
2016-08-11 Recently, the Marine’s premier attack helicopter landed on the HMAS Canberra during the RIMAC exercise.
According to a story by Leut. Andrew Ragless and published on August 8, 2016:
HMAS Canberra has been visited by one of the most potent attack helicopters in the United States Marine Corps, the AH-1 SuperCobra.
Landing on the flight deck, together with the UH-1 Huey/Venom medium utility helicopter, both aircraft were ‘hot refuelled’ by Canberra’s flight deck team.
The landing and refuelling of both aircraft types were the first in Royal Australian Navy history and concluded a series of interoperability trials with United States Marine Corps aircraft as part of Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2016.
Hot refuelling (or fuelling with engines operating) is performed when military operations require a rapid turn around of aircraft.
It is frequently practised in Royal Australian Navy ships at sea, though rarely with such a broad range of coalition aircraft.
Avionics Technician Sergeant Cain Brennan supervised the SuperCobra refuelling and said the trials had been very rewarding.
“We’ve been working closely with the US Marines to prove the new capability of the Landing Helicopter Dock,” he said.
“There’s a great sense of accomplishment in being able to say we’ve done it, and for everyone involved it went safely and smoothly.”
Early on in the exercise Canberra US Marines MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and CH-53E Super Stallion, the largest helicopter in the United States military, landed on the Australian ship.
Both aircraft were hot refuelled in subsequent landings.
Members of the Australian Army’s 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, rehearsed amphibious assault drills in the Osprey and the Governor General of Australia, His Excellency General the Hon. Sir Peter Cosgrove AK, MC (Ret’d) flew in the Osprey from Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii to land on Canberra as part of an official visit.
Commander – Flying, Canberra, Lieutenant Commander Adam Smith said the landing of the Cobra and Venom, both skidded aircraft without wheels, was the last piece in the highly successful interoperability trials.
“We landed them on 6 and 4 spots, and refuelled them both, so that really ticked the box for interoperability,” he said.
“With everything that’s come on board from the MV-22, CH-53 and through to today, we’ve had no hiccups at all.”
“We’ve managed to hit all aviation goals that we needed to, so we can now go away and say, yes this works and expand that envelope even further.”
RIMPAC 16 is the first major international exercise for Canberra and its embarked MRH-90 helicopters, as well as the MH-60R Seahawk helicopters embarked in frigates HMA Ships Warramunga and Ballarat.
2016-08-08 On August 5, 2016, Second Line of Defense visited Williamtown Airbase to meet with Group Captain Stuart Bellingham, Commanding Officer of No. 42 Wing (the Wedgetail squadron).
When you visit the squadron what is striking is that the squadron is colocated with the System Program Office (SPO).
When you go into the SPO you find the software development center, the virtual Wedgetaill operating room and the training rooms where the newbies learn to be Wedgetailers.
Virtual Wedgetail is a key combat learning asset, notably with coalition partners. It is a full up current operating system and consoles which is used for working with the joint and coalition partners,
Wedgetail is not a classic air battlement management system but a much broader asset which is becoming integrated into army and navy operations as well.
The software evolves over time and with it the capabilities of the aircraft.
Wedgetail Six being prepared for it next operational cycle. Credit: Second Line of Defense
Notably, it is the squadron which is driving the demand signal based on their operational experiences and the briefs to industry are really about combat learning and what they want next in the aircraft.
The squadron is broadly engaged with army and navy in shaping their joint contribution.
And this affects their training and ops obviously.
With AWACS the main community they serve are fighters and their support structure; with Wedgetail they are working directly with Navy and Army in providing joint SA and related capabilities.
And the evolution of the aircraft is dead center on Tron Warfare with regard to software development.
Because they have 6 Wedgetails and 15 P-8s so they are looking to shape as much convergence as possible.
The E-7A Wedgetail provides Australia with one of the most advanced air battlespace management capabilities in the world.
The E-7A Wedgetail is based on a Boeing 737-700, with the addition of an advanced Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar and 10 mission crew consoles, to create one of the most advanced pieces of technology for the Australian Defence Force.
Based at RAAF Base Williamtown, the six E-7A Wedgetails are capable of communicating with other aircraft and providing air control from the sky. They can cover four million square kilometres during a single 10 hour mission.
The E-7A Wedgetail represents an entirely new capability for the Australian Defence Force, providing an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform that can gather information from a wide variety of sources, analyse it and distribute it to other air and surface assets.
The E-7A Wedgetail can control the tactical battle space, providing direction for fighter aircraft, surface combatants and land based elements, as well as supporting aircraft such as tankers and intelligence platforms.
Based on the 737-700 commercial airliner airframe, the E-7A Wedgetail features advanced multi role electronically scanned radar and 10 state-of-the-art mission crew consoles that are able to track airborne and maritime targets simultaneously.
The E-7A Wedgetail significantly multiplies the effectiveness of our existing Navy, Army and Air Force, and will help Australia maintain a capability edge well into the future.
The E-7A Wedgetail has participated in Exercise Bersama Lima, Exercise Cope North, Exercise Red Flag, Exercise Pitch Black and is currently deployed on Operation OKRA.
The MESA radar provides air-to-air coverage, air-to-surface coverage, integrated identification friend or foe, special track beams and focused sector operation.
MESA builds on the company’s expertise acquired from the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) to bring military airborne surveillance capabilities to mid-size Boeing 737 aircraft.
MESA enables sophisticated air-to-air and maritime coverage and integrated identification of friend-or-foe systems.
Advances in technology have caused a revolution in the capabilities and flexibility of airborne surveillance systems and sensors used in Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) systems.
Developments in distributed transmitters, commercial off-the-shelf processing and high-performance antenna arrays have enabled ES multirole electronically scanned array (MESA) radar to be cost effectively applied to the next generation Boeing 737-700 series aircraft.
The slideshow highlights the Wedgetail in training or in operations and the photos are credited to the Australian Ministry of Defence.
Photos 1 and 2 show Wedgetail in operations in Iraq.
Photos 3-5 show the Wedgetail during training sorties.
Photos 6 shows the Wedgetail being refueled by the KC-30A near Williamtown Airbase.
Photo 7 shows an E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning, control and surveillance aircraft at its operating base in the Middle East Region after completing a new record by flying a 17.1 hour operational mission over Iraq and Syria.
Photo 8 shows a Wedgetail maintenance crew in the Middle East.
Photo 9 shows the Wedgetail at Red Flag 16-1.
Photos 10-6 show the crew and maintainers of a RAAF E-7A Wedgetail airborne command and control aircraft, are seen preparing for their rotation’s final flight of their deployment, departing Australia’s main logistics base for ADF operations in the Middle East region. This was the final flight for Rotation Five of E-7A aircrew and maintenance personnel before the end of their deployment.
The final two photos show the Wedgetail in operations in Iraq.
2016-08-07 Currently, Second Line of Defense is in Australia and participating in the upcoming Williams Foundation seminar on air-sea integration.
Initial interviews have been conducted at Amberley and Williamtown airbases and provide updates on the C-17, KC-30A and Wedgetail roles and evolutions within the RAAF and its global operations.
Many of the planes at the two airbases are involved in Pitch Black 2016 with a small footprint of airframes currently at the two bases.
Pitch Black 2016 is a high end combat exercise in which the RAAF air crews learn to work together and with partner nations in shaping a successfully outcome.
This will be especially demanding in the years ahead as the new aircraft are either multi-mission or multi-tasking aircraft designed to support multi-dimension operations, rather than classic air-to-air or air-to-ground operations.
This means that there is a significant expansion of the aperture with which pilots will have to operate in contributing to joint operations in the extended battlespace.
For example, in the case of Wedgetail as it plays its role in battle management in the joint space, the customers are much broader than if they were simply an AWACS replacement.
The AWACS customer base are clearly fighters and supporting elements.
As Wedgetail evolves (and this is what one does with a software upgradeable aircraft), its role in supporting the ground and naval forces is expanding as well.
This means the crews need to train and operate differently.
Currently,Wedgetail through its Virtual Wedgetail facility is working with the Aussie Army, the Aussie Navy and coalition partners in evolving its contribution to the joint battlespace.
This may well mean that Australia will need to consider who and how best to proceed with high end exercises, notably when the F-35 and P-8/Triton dyad enter the force.
International partners are important for a number of strategic reasons, but the evolution of higher end WARFIGHTING capabilities, not just platforms, may well lead to change with regard to who and how to involve partners in training to fight and prevail in the extended battlespace.
This raises the question of what future Pitch Blacks under the influence of F-35s will look like.
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Pitch Black 2016 is, according to the Australian Ministry of Defence, the Royal Australian Air Force’s largest and most complex exercise in 2016.
Exercise Pitch Black is being conducted from RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal from 29 July until 19 August.
This year’s exercise features up to 2500 personnel and 115 aircraft from participating nations including Australia, Canada, French (New Caledonia), Germany, Indonesia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.
Exercise Pitch Black aims to further develop offensive counter air; air-land integration; and intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, as well as foster international co-operation with partner forces.
Exercise Pitch Black 2016 is a three week multi-national large force employment exercise which will be conducted from RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal from 29 July to 19 August 2016.
The Northern Territory will host up to 2500 personnel and 115 aircraft from around the globe for the exercise including participants from Australia, Canada, France (New Caledonia), Germany, Indonesia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the United States…..
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The exercise will use airspace over Bradshaw Training Area and Delamere Air Weapons Range to practice large formation offensive and counter air and offensive air support operations.
The exercise will involve day and night flying from Darwin and Tindal, as well as a number of land elements in each location…..
Exercise Pitch Black recognises the strong relationship Australia has with its participant nations and the high value it places on regional security and fostering closer ties throughout the Asia Pacific region.’
2016-08-07 Over the years, the MV-22 has been certified on a number of coalition ships, the latest is the HMAS Canberra.
During an interview when a Dutch ship was conducting certification trials, the Captain of the ship highlighted what was at stake with the effort:
In a phone interview prior to the event with the Captain of the HNLS Karl Doorman, Peter Van Den Berg, the interoperability exercise and its origins was discussed…..
Van Den Berg: I think the Osprey in amphibious warfare is a real game changer. The Osprey will allow us the ability to sustain our support missions because of its ability to link us for a distance and with real speed. There is a shortage of decks; we need a connector like the Osprey able to link up those ships into an operational seabase for a coalition effort.
And from an amphibious point of view, you can operate an Osprey deep and with speed inland.
It changes the nature of the meaning of amphibious operations.
It not only expands the operational reach, but can allow ships to be further from shore and be more secure.
Now the HMAS Canberra joins the coalition capable Osprey ships able to operate in the battlespace.
According to the Australian Ministry of Defence:
“HMAS Canberra conducted trials with a United States Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 16 to further increase capability and interoperability US and Australian military forces.
The MV-22B Osprey is an American multi-mission, tiltrotor aircraft with both vertical and landing (VTOL), and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. The Australian Defence Force is deploying three ships, four aircraft and more than 1650 personnel to take part in Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2016 (RIMPAC 16) off the coast of Hawaii and California.
The multinational activity held from 30 June to 4 August 2016 is the world’s largest maritime exercise and includes more than 25, 000 personnel from 26 countries. RIMPAC seeks to enhance interoperability between Pacific Rim armed forces, ostensibly as a means of promoting stability in the region to the benefit of all participating nations.”
It might not be immediately evident what is happening with the amphibious ships in the Aussie fleet.
When the two new ships were bought, it was in a period of time when such ships were largely transport assets for the ground forces and multi-mission ships for HADR missions in the region.
When the Osprey came to the US fleet, the amphibious fleet started to change, given the range and speed of the Osprey. The fleet started to distribute across a larger area of operations and began to evolve as the Osprey itself evolved. The coming of the F-35B is accelerating the transformation of the role of the amphibious ship
The Aussie amphibious ships are becoming operational as the twin processes of transformation of the fleet and of airpower are underway.
Now the Aussies have the opportunity to rethink what an amphibious task force would look like for them as the RAAF transforms its forces.
For example, the Army and Navy are working closely with the Wedgetail squadron to sort out the best ways to operate in the future and exercises are scheduled this Fall to test out work in progress. With the P-8 and Triton coming a well, this is a work in progress.
But what is clear that the original context for the purchase of the ships has changed and what you can do with the ship has changed as well.
The Osprey fleet interacting with US and coalition ships is creating a core capability for the coalition force as well.
In a piece published on June 15, 2015, the role of the Osprey and coalition warships was highlighted by Second Line of Defense:
“The speed and range of the Osprey is a key combat enabler.
It also provides significant reach and range to connect US and allied warships into a 21st century sea base.
The capability to provide for resupply has been demonstrated many times, but the capability delivered in Operation Odyssey Dawn whereby Ospreys flew roundtrip from the USS Kearsarge to Sigonella to resupply Harriers was a clear statement of new opportunities.
As the Osprey has become a fixture of USMC and USAF global operations, the Marines have been working operations off of foreign warships as part of the process of building out an Osprey-enabled sea base, writ large.
Among others are the UK, French, Japanese, South Korean, and now Dutch warships.”
As Rio de Janeiro prepares for the opening of the Olympic and Paralympic Games this Friday many of the old dilemmas are very much on display. The city provides a magnificent backdrop.
When viewed from the top of the “Pão de Açúcar,” the iconic mountain that overlooks the city and its beaches, and guards the entrance to the great bay of Guanabara, where I was recently, Rio is still unequalled in the world for its physical beauty.
Yet closer up at street level, and in the favelas which hug the mountainous slopes that surround the city, and the slums which stretch in a disordered jumble for miles inland, Rio is for many of its inhabitants a city of fear and apprehension.
The opinion polls show very little enthusiasm for the Games, and the Olympic torch has suffered a series of unfortunate disasters enroute to Rio, including numerous falls by the torchbearers, and a near riot of people opposed to the whole idea of the Olympic Games when it passed through a town soon after crossing into Rio de Janeiro state.
Closer up the fear is very evidently on display.
It can been seen in the ugly heavy metal barriers which now surround most apartment blocks in the zona sul; in the beach front communities along the shoreline in Ipanema where the buildings are constantly patrolled by armed guards.
Or in the physical separation of the Miami-like high-end residential tower blocs of the Barra da Tijuca, which have been replicated by the new tower blocs of the Olympic “village” where the international Olympic teams are also now ensconced, far away from the everyday living conditions of most “Cariocas” as the residents of Rio de Janeiro are called.
Rio of course had plenty of opportunities to build an Olympic Games with a legacy.
In fact the city government had promised that hosting the Olympic Games would improve the life of its citizens. But many of these aspirations have fallen far short of expectations.
Despite a promised clean up, the bay of Guanabara remains heavily polluted. Raw sewage continues to pollute the iconic beaches. The transport network although improved in places, especially in the downtown and port area, is still woefully inadequate. The new cycle path built along the coast collapsed, killing two cyclists, and it is still closed to the public.
The new subway line joining the city to the Barra da Tijuca was only completed this week, and will be only opened to transport people to the games, and will then be closed again when the games are over for further work. And it only reaches the edge of the Barra da Tijuca in any case from where buses will take the spectators on to the Olympic park, which is several miles way.
Though the city government has thoughtfully provided tasteful scenic barriers all along the highway from the international airport, which disguise the slums along the route into the city.
But none of these cosmetics, however, should surprise anyone.
Brazil after all has always been famous for its plastic surgery. There was in the 19th century a famous phrase for such obfuscation. It was called “para inglês ver” (literally “for the English to see”). It was to do with slavery and the slave trade, which Brazil promised to abolish, but in fact had no intention of doing so. Brazil as a consequence only effectively ended the slave trade in 1850, and only abolished slavery in 1888.
It will be a logistical miracle if the transportation system works, all the time, to get the athletes, the spectators, the international press, to the right locations, at the right times.
God, Brazilians often like to claim “is Brazilian.” Let’s hope God is paying attention to Rio, and helping out, over the next few weeks. Perhaps, it will all work out in the end. One certainly hopes so. Brazil and Brazilians can be unexpectedly resilient at such moments.
Maybe they will be for the Olympic Games. London also experienced serious problems in the weeks prior to the opening of the Games four years ago, over security, over transportation, over the preparation of the athletes’ accommodations, over the threat of potential strikes. But in the end the Olympic Games were seen to have been a great success.
Yet few could have foretold the series of calamities, which afflict Rio in the lead up to the Olympics, many of them home generated, some with international causes far beyond Brazil’s responsibility. The state sponsored doping scandal involving Russian athletes has only been imperfectly resolved.
Yet Brazil still has to resolve its own political crisis. The country currently has two presidents, one “interim” and the other “afastado” (i.e., removed). One has been accused of leading a constitutional coup. The other is facing an impeachment trial in the Brazilian senate.
The interim president, Michel Temer, says he not concerned with the jeers which will undoubtedly accompany his appearance at the opening ceremony in the Maracanã stadium, where Brazilians are always famously irreverent towards their leaders at the best of times. Dilma Rousseff, the president who is undergoing impeachment, says she will not attend.
Former president Lula, under whose administration Brazil won the right to host the World Cup and the Olympic Games, has just be indicted for attempting to derail the impeachment process. Leading Brazilian businessman, bankers, construction executives, and politicians, are all in jail, many as a result of the colossal Petrobras corruption scandal.
But others are caught up on other scandals.
Meanwhile the Brazilian economy is facing its worse contraction in almost 50 years.
The promised wealth from the off shore petroleum resources has yet to materialize, and the price of petroleum continues in the doldrums, which affects Rio in particular, and the state and the city are both facing a chronic shortfalls in its public finances, and Rio has just been bailed out by the federal government.
Many heads of state are not coming to Rio for the opening ceremonies.
Nevertheless, the Olympic Games provide one of those very rare moments when the whole world will be paying very close attention to Brazil.
One hopes the world will see the beauty of Rio, enjoy the sporting competitions, relish the gold medals won, and not become obsessed by the squalor.
That is something Brazilians will have to deal with when the gringos have all gone home.
Even before the USAF declared the F-35As initial operational capability (IOC) on August 2, they were well ahead of the curve planning the next phase of the F-35A program.
This next phase is focused on the priority of F-35A integration within the USAF fighter fleet, and in particular with the F-22 Raptor.
To that end a 5th Generation Integration Conference was hosted on July 20 & 21 by the 1st FW at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA. Col. Pete Fesler, 1st FW Commander [F-22], and Col. David Lyons, 388th FW Commander [F-35A] discussed the conference, and the integration of the USAF 5th Generation fleet of F-22 Raptor and F-35A Lightning II.
Lyons and Fesler both noted that significant integration of 5th Gen fighters with the 4th Gen fighters has been underway and effective. The F-22As have been very active over past years integrating through exercises such as Red Flag, Checkered Flag and more while the F-35As at Hill AFB have been working extensively with the local F-16s.
However, F-22 integration with the 4th Gen fleet has been more of a stop gap effort while looking forward to the introduction of the F-35A.
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As Fesler says, “The F-35 is here.
“We need to start determining the path to integrate the F-22 and F-35A as part of the joint team right now.”
Lyons noted that from the outset, the F-22 and F-35A were part of the USAFs resourcing strategy, envisioned to work together as a team. F-35As joining the fleet represent the realization of that vision.
These two aircraft are the leading edge of the Air Force fighter fleet, and their integration on tactical, operational and support levels is a priority.
It is well known that each aircraft bring unrivaled 21st Century situational awareness to the battlespace, and yet each has a distinct strength.
Fesler paraphrased comments made by Gen. H. “Hawk” Carlisle, “the F-35 is the best A2A platform in the world, except for the F-22. The F-22 is the best A2G platform in the world, except for the F-35.”
Fesler continued, “So we have two aircraft, one designed primarily for A2G, one primarily for A2A, both with complimentary capabilities to assist each other in either role.
Together they create a team that is optimized to simultaneously go after air and surface threats.”
The 5th Gen Integration Conference assembled the Commanders of the Fighter Wings that operate the F-22 and F-35 to discuss all aspects of operational activity underway.
How the units/aircraft will train together
The units/aircraft will operate in combat together to maximize effectiveness in the battlespace.
How the units/aircraft will be best manned and systems maintained for maximum efficiencies is a work in progress.
The Raptors have a decade of 5th Generation “real world” experience to share with the F-35A.
Lessons learned from airframe and systems maintenance, low observability maintenance and more may be adopted by the F-35A community to make their experience more efficient.
At the same time, information will flow back from the F-35 global fleet to the F-22 and generate opportunities for specific retrofits to the F-22 fleet, as well as integration lessons.
Fesler explained that greater gains will be realized for both aircraft as all associated personnel “cross-flow” between platforms.
Fesler acknowledged that the while the interchange of information between 5th and 4th Gen platforms was challenging, the sharing between 5th and 5th Gen platforms was relatively seamless.
Legacy systems of the 4th Gen aircraft require substantial upgrades to effectively communicate the high volume of battlespace information (e.g. Talon Hate pods).
Even though the F-22 has been in service over 10 years, its systems have maintained adequate pace with the F-35As systems, ensuring seamless data communication and a shared picture of the battlespace.
Fesler notes that while the F-22 is optimized for A2A and can work through the SAM problems as well as hit high value targets, the F-35 is designed “100% to find any ground threat and make it go away” even while providing a very solid A2A capability.
Lyons indicated that the F-22/F-35 tandem is the team required in peer or near peer environments with advanced A2A and A2G threats.
The F-35 will provide the team leadership with SEAD, DEAD, Dynamic targeting, EW as well as passing tremendous amounts of information to the entire Blue team, all while the F-22 provides the primary A2A protection.
I am left with the distinct feeling that the team driven Fesler and Lyons are more than confident in their aircraft to take on any challenge with either aircraft, and yet gratified to go to the fight delivering an unrivaled 21st century team to deliver a one-two punch
Special Thanks to the USAF ACC 633 ABW Public Affairs Team, Col. Pete Fesler, Commander 1st Fighter Wing, and Col. David Lyons, Commander 388th Fighter Wing.
During my visit to the United Kingdom in June 2016, I had a chance to talk with Air Commodore Dean Andrew, the ISTAR Force Commander based at RAF Waddington.
We spoke about the challenges of transforming the current platform focused Air ISTAR community to an integrated Force capability in the future – while continuing to meet today’s warfighting demands.
The challenge is one of balancing current operational commitments, with the introduction of new platforms and capabilities and developing a more integrated enterprise model for 2025.
According to Air Commodore Andrew:
“I have been given a clear mandate for transformation by the RAF senior leadership.
“I need to create the conditions for the integrated Force to emerge and grow to where the Strategic Defence and Security Review tells us to be in 2025.”
The project of transformation is called Programme Athena.
The name is taken from the Greek goddess of reason, intelligent activity, and military victory.
Fierce and brave in battle; she defended the state and home from outside enemies using wisdom, initiative and resources to hand.[ref] Dictionary of Mythology 2015.[/ref]
According to a baseline brief given by the Air Commodore (one of the slides from which is included later in the article), “the key to sustained improvement is working together as a Whole Force, which includes all personnel from serving military personnel and reservists to civil servants, industry partners, and contractors.”
The goal is to shape an “integrated team that can deliver every aspect of operations, support services, facilities and amenities for the UK’s Air ISTAR capability.”
With its hub at RAF Waddington, the Air ISTAR Force comprises five small fleets: E-3D Sentry, Sentinel R1 ASTOR (airborne standoff radar), RC-135 Rivet Joint/Airseeker, MQ-9 Reaper and Shadow R1.
All are supported by the intelligence processing and exploitation expertise of No 1 ISR Wing.
The current force has developed through the serial acquisition of separate platforms.
Personnel and contractor support have been built around these individual platforms and squadrons and there has been a lack of coherent investment in the technical and domestic infrastructure needed to support modern information based warfare or provide sufficient headroom for growth.
There is also the major challenge of manpower and training.
According to Air Commodore Andrew:
“There will need to be an overall uplift of personnel, but if we consider training, career stream manning and common transferrable skills as Force-level opportunities – we can be much more efficient with our collected growth across individual squadrons, units and branches and trades.
“We need to do something radical and innovative to deliver the enhanced capability, but with fewer people than we might have required 10 or 20 years ago when many of our ISTAR capabilities were conceived.
“This is not about doing more with less, but being smarter with our assumptions over how we can operate as an integrated Force and where technology and creative Whole Force concepts can be applied.
All of this has to be in in addition to the military manpower levers of recruitment, retention and talent management to better manage the people we have.”
Air Commodore Dean Andrew. Credit: RAF
The Air Commodore recognizes that a fundamental look at how the ISTAR Force does its business is required to deliver the change.
His view of the transformation challenge focuses on the vision and adaptability of his people and the ability to lead, manage and organize at the capability level, not the platform level.
Most important are the qualities those people have.
“I need to have people coming into the force who already have their aperture open and can drive change” stresses the Air Commodore. .
“I need the human equivalent to the 360 degree sensing F-35 airplane as the foundation for the future force.”
He mentions the F35 as an example of the paradigm shift in capability that the RAF will experience as the aircraft comes into service — particularly in terms of its ISR role, which complements its strike capabilities and can be leveraged for the ISTAR Force.
He adds that “the F35 will not be our platform, but it will have core ISTAR contributing capabilities that stretch the boundaries of integration even further for the transformed Force.
The overlapping Venn diagrams that we start to see across the RAF and Defence if we use an ISTAR ‘contributing capability’ lens get bigger and more complex as new and legacy platforms and services become integrated”
The Air Commodore emphasized that the move of ISTAR assets from No. 2 Group to No. 1 Group was a key part of positioning the transformation process.[ref]The role of 2 Group is to provide the operational ‘reach’ and the associated support to UK operations world-wide from its Headquarters at High Wycombe. No 2 Group primarily provides the RAF with Air Transport and Air-to-Air Refuelling (AT/AAR) and Force Protection. Whereas, in addition to ISTAR, 1 Group ,presides over Combat Attack, Battlespace Management and Air Traffic Control , the UK’s Joint Force Air Component HQ and the Joint Air-Land Organization.[/ref]
“We now are directly connected to the users who are demanding our capability.
“This puts us in the position of demand driven change as well.”
Similarly, the introduction into service over the next few years of the Poseidon P-8A offers opportunity to bring the previously stove-piped maritime patrol force into the ISTAR fold.
Air Commodore Andrew sees this as a real test of his transformation leadership – cautioning that “if we don’t view the P8-A as a maritime domain awareness strike asset, rather than a replacement MPA, the UK will never realize the full benefit of their investment and generate the enhanced operational effectiveness that is required for the future Joint Force.
“Making the financial and conceptual space for that enhancement requires a common approach to training, manpower, support and sustainability, information and operating concepts that is at the heart of the transformation.
“Treating each of the platform types as interconnected segments of an ISTAR capability Venn diagram will allow us to create the breadth of intelligence and understanding in the common operating picture that the Joint Force needs.
“Getting out of the platform stovepipe mentality will not be easy; it will be necessary to shape an overall operational approach to where the key operators of the platforms become plug and play elements in the overall ISTAR Force.
“This means changes for civilian and industry partners as well.”
Messaging is important also.
“When you drive onto the base you see as many signs for individual companies as you do welcoming you to ’The Home of the ISTAR Force.’
“This reflects a reality which needs to change.”
He pointed out that a number individual contracts are coming up for renewal, and there will be an opportunity to reshape the working relationship with industry partners in order to come up with more integrated solutions.
The infrastructure on the base is quite old, and one focus for shaping an integrated force could be built around combined requirements and multi-purposing of new infrastructure around new ways of working.
Training offers a good example.
“We need to shape a common training capability, and perhaps in a common building where synthetics will play a key role in shaping the way ahead, in which the key platform operators work together in establishing the joint ISTAR picture.
“By sharing ideas and facilities and technology we can then build in a more integrated cognitive and operational process.”
He sees synthetics and mixed live, virtual and constructive training as the key to the way ahead.
“Both the F35 and P8-A are hugely software driven, which offers tremendous opportunity for connected computer generated training in federated systems – perhaps linked together as spokes to an overall ISTAR synthetic training hub which includes all of the other capabilities in the ISTAR Force.”
We discussed the idea that as the core platforms are replaced by an all software upgradeable fleet, the possibility could exist to put the platforms in competition with one another for modernization upgrades.
“Which upgrade gets the priority for which platform to make the greatest contribution to the integrated ISTAR capability are the sort of decisions that should lie with the ISTAR Force in the future – it is at Force level, not within individual programmes and projects that the overall capability benefit can be seen and prioritized.”
We then discussed the notion of transformation as a process, not an outcome.
The Air Commodore was very keen to stress again the need for “cultural change, where the aperture is opened for the team and they can embrace greater integration”
“We have the iPhone 6 generation in the Force now, yesterday’s analogue approach to our business is no longer appropriate.
“With the aperture fully open, the individual platforms and capabilities become the apps that enable the integrated Force ‘iPhone’.
“Thinking of it in this way, will allow us to tap this new generation of warriors.”
He also seeks to build a sense of strategic purpose and community from bottom to top.
He cited the example of when President Johnson met a janitor at the NASA space center in Houston and when asked what he was doing, the janitor replied: “I am helping put a man on the moon, Mr. President.”
“We are driving to a similar mindset in the ISTAR Force – everyone contributing regardless of where they work.”
He argued that this perspective was essential to mission success.
“The paradigm shift needs to be cultural and organizational if the ISTAR force with a large F to become a reality.
“We are going from a tradition where we have operated isolated force elements to one where an integrated force can deliver 24/7 support and we need to shape a Whole Force solution approach.”
Getting it right for ISTAR is critical to the success of the RAF’s contributions to operations and to the UK’s intelligence and understanding of the world.
The Air Commodore concluded:
“One cannot simply pause, and recapitalize the force in a vacuous power point exercise.
“It is about transformation ‘in contact’ and ensuring that we leverage maximum integrated capability from the new platforms coming to the RAF, while re-brigading the legacy systems as best we can and putting in place the foundations required for an adaptable, upgradeable and technology driven capital F force in the 2025 time frame and beyond.”
Biography for Air Commodore Dean Andrew OBE MA MBA RAF
Air Commodore Andrew was born in Kingston upon Hull. He joined the Service in 1985 and, following training, completed his first tour on IX (Bomber) Squadron at Royal Air Force Brüggen, Germany, operating in both nuclear strike and conventional roles. After a year detachment to Royal Air Force Wittering in 1991 as the Wing Electronic Warfare (EW) Officer, he was re-toured to IX (Bomber) Squadron, becoming one of the first aircrew to operate in the Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) role, following the introduction into service of the ALARM missile.
With a background in EW he was selected as an exchange officer to fly the specialist SEAD Tornado with the Luftwaffe. After 11 months at German language school, he moved to Fighter Bomber Wing 32 at German Air Force Lechfeld in November 1996. Following his promotion to squadron leader he was once again posted to Brüggen, this time as a flight commander on 31 ‘Goldstars’ Squadron.
After this tour he was posted to Royal Air Force High Wycombe, where he worked as a staff officer in Headquarters No.1 Group. Following the Advanced Command and Staff Course at the Defence College, Shrivenham in 2002, he was promoted to wing commander and posted to Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps at Rheindahlen, in Germany, as the Commander’s air advisor.
In January 2006 he took command of 31 Squadron ‘the Goldstars’ at Royal Air Force Marham. He was appointed Officer of the British Empire in 2008 for his successful introduction of ‘lean’ transformation techniques to the Squadron and for leading the air support package to Operation BLENHEIM, the re-deployment of troops from Basra Palace. Having handed over the Goldstars in April 2008, he was promoted to group captain and appointed Commander 903 Expeditionary Air Wing, Basra. On his return in January 2009, he became Chief of Staff of the Joint Air Land Organisation, responsible for tri-Service inter-operability and then spent two years in the Chief of the United States Air Force Strategic Studies Group in the Pentagon. He arrived at Ramstein from the Higher Command and Staff Course at the Joint Service Staff College at Shrivenham.
Air Commodore Andrew took command of the No 1 Group ISTAR Force Headquarters at RAF Waddington at the end of November 2015.
He has more than 2,500 hours on Tornado and has flown combat operations in the Middle East and the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. In 2016 he becomes President of the Rugby Football League – the national governing body of the Sport in the UK.
